


A-Z of a Life

by MerryLilHobbit



Series: Life at the Hotel Transylvania [1]
Category: Hotel Transylvania (2012)
Genre: F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2015-10-20
Packaged: 2018-04-27 06:45:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 29
Words: 91,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5037934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MerryLilHobbit/pseuds/MerryLilHobbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Little drabbles based off of one word, one for each letter of the alphabet. A look into the lives of Johnny and Mavis; includes their lives before and after they got together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A - Arachnophobia

Johnny had, of course, been quite a happy-go-lucky kid. For a start, he just smiled a lot; family members, friends and even strangers would look down at him and be blessed to see a genuinely friendly smile on his face. As well as that, he just had a happy nature growing up - he took a positive approach towards everything, from food he didn't like to mean boys in the playground at school.

However, there was one thing that he'd never been able to tolerate: spiders.

It had all started when he was six. Being the fourth out of seven boys (although, at this point, his mother had still been pregnant with the youngest, Jake), he was in a rather neutral position; he wasn't quite old enough to tell his brothers what to do, but he wasn't so young that he was teased every day. Whenever his brothers _did_ tease him, he just shrugged and carried on doing whatever he'd been doing.

That night when Johnny was sent up to bed, he was exhausted; he'd had to stay up a little later to get some help for his homework from his dad, who didn't get back until late. Too tired to properly look and put the pieces together, he failed to notice that the _Superman_ duvet on his bed was the wrong way round or that the bed sheets weren't properly on anymore. He gave a tiny yawn, and flopped onto the bed, making sure he didn't wake up Daniel from across the room. He shut his eyes and began to fall deeper into sleep.

And then he started to feel it - something hairy touching his cheek. For a moment he thought it was a teddy of some sort, or maybe a mouse or something. Johnny didn't mind mice or rats, so he nestled further into his pillow. The hairy thing moved closer, another couple of hairy things touching him.

_If it's mice I should properly put them outside before Mom sees..._

Johnny opened his eyes and saw it - a _huge,_ hairy brown spider was half on his face, half on his pillow, clearly trying to crawl onto his face.

Johnny screamed, causing the spider to scuttle backwards. He didn't stop screaming - he was even starting to half-cry a little bit, frightened by this encounter. His older brother, Daniel, shot up too, woken up by the screaming. "W-What's goin' on?" He asked blearily

The light in their bedroom turned on, and he looked up with tear-filled eyes to see his mother and father standing there, both clearly shocked by his outburst.

"What's the matter?"

"You alright, son?"

Johnny couldn't even speak, instead just pointing a shaking finger at the monstrous thing on his pillow. "It's a-a-a...a-a-a..."

Daniel climbed out of bed and took a closer look; he rolled his eyes when he realized what it was. "It's a spider, on his pillow."

Johnny's dad came forward and picked it up, letting his stay on the palm of his hand. He paused for a second and then shook his head. "It's just a spider...wonder how he got in..."

The six year old didn't stop blubbering, instead reaching out his arms for his mother. She came forward, pulling him into a tight hug. "It's okay, sweetie," She murmured in his ear, rubbing a hand on his back. "It was probably just Matt or one of your brothers playing a prank on you...no need to be scared..."

Johnny shook his head, burrowing further into her chest and whimpering. "G-G-Get it a-a-away..."

His mother nodded towards his father, and he quickly left to dispose of the spider. "There-there. It wouldn't have hurt you, Johnny - he probably just wanted to...to see who you were...And Daniel, you need to go back to sleep, honey."

In the end, it took an hour to calm him down and get him to sleep. Daniel grudgingly went back to bed (after sending a smirk at his brother) and was out within ten minutes; each of Johnny's other brothers came in at different times to see what was going on, only to be escorted back to bed by their father.

Johnny never got over his fear of spiders; he sometimes had nightmares about one eating him alive, or torturing him on a web. Of course, his brothers all delighted in teasing him about his fear of spiders, even going as far as to throw some that they found at him; though they meant this as a joke, it did nothing but intensify his dislike of arachnids.

This, of course, didn't help when he found himself in Dracula's hotel fifteen years later.

* * *

Mavis really did love Hawaii - even though they could only go out in the evenings, she'd found that the most interesting things happened when the sky was dark. Fireworks, huge parties, fire shows...it was all so amazing, and she could definitely see why this place was called "Paradise".

During the day, there wasn't a lot to do apart from sleep. However, Mavis certainly didn't mind getting to cuddle with her boyfriend, falling asleep and waking up to the sound of his steady heartbeat against her ear. Even when they didn't sleep, they still had fun - Mavis found herself really liking some of the music that her boyfriend downloaded, and playing music while they relaxed and talked soon became one of Mavis' favourite parts of the day (after actually seeing Hawaii of course).

That day, however, both of them had slept through the entire day; they'd been at a festival of some kind overnight, only returning to the hotel when the Sun was soon to rise. Safe to say, dancing around and partying had taken a lot of energy out of both of them.

Mavis was the first to wake up, just blinking around the shady room and trying to figure out if the Sun was going to set soon. She didn't have long to wonder though, since when she tried to get up to move, she accidentally woke her boyfriend up too. Johnny gave a small groan of pain, but opened his eyes and smiled when he saw her.

"Good Evening," Mavis said brightly, giving him large smile. "So, where are we going tonight? A festival? The beach-"

"Uhh...let me wake up first," Johnny mumbled groggily, and Mavis laughed at the slightly-pained look on his face. "Man...seems like no matter how long I sleep, I'm always tired..."

"You're just not used to the sleep pattern yet," Mavis stated, feeling a little bit guilty; after all, if it wasn't for her inability to go out in the sun, he wouldn't have to be changing his sleep patterns. "So, what _are_ we doing today?"

He just stretched his arms out and gave a final yawn. "We'll see." He stood up and went to covered window; carefully, so as not to let too much light in, he pulled the curtain back a little bit and squinted out of the window. "Yup...Sun's setting..." He dropped the curtain back into place and turned back to his girlfriend, an idea forming in his head. "Hey, we should totally check out some of the volcanoes around here - most of the island _is_ volcanoes."

Mavis raised an eyebrow as he dropped back onto the bed and faced her. "Is...Is it safe?"

"Totally," Her boyfriend nodded. "There's, like, National Parks and stuff...I think one of them near here has a hiking trail we can explore."

"Oh." Mavis smiled at the idea - seeing something new appealed to her immediately. "Sure! Let's do that!"

"Cool," He grinned at her. "I'm gonna go take a shower first, though...too tired to bother after that festival..." He leaned forwards and pressed a kiss to her cheek before standing up. "I won't be too long!"

As he headed for the bathroom, humming a tune and grabbing some actual clean clothes (well...cleanest that he owned at the moment), Mavis started to get ready herself. She climbed out of bed and started to go through her bag, looking for an outfit to wear - something that she'd be comfortable and cool in. She didn't need to bother about looking too good anyway, especially since she didn't appear in mirrors or photos.

Just as she finished picking out her outfit, she heard her boyfriend scream.

In seconds the vampire had straightened up and ran to the bathroom as fast as she could. "Johnny! Are you alright?" She didn't bother knocking, instead just pushing the door aside - as they'd found out on their first night in Hawaii, the lock didn't work. "Johnny!"

Johnny was backed up against the wall furthest from the shower, pressing against it to try and get further away. His clean clothes were all over the floor, along with the towel he'd been planning on using. He hadn't noticed his girlfriend walking in, instead keeping his eyes focused on what appeared to be the shower wall.

"Johnny, what's the matter?" Mavis asked quickly, moving next to him and checking him over; he didn't appear to be wounded, and she could hear his heart beating quickly.

Johnny gulped, raising an arm and pointing a finger at the shower floor. "G-G-Get rid of i-it...P-Please..." Mavis blinked but moved to see what exactly he'd been pointing at.

On the floor, there was a spider - only just a little bigger than the staff ones at the hotel. The vampire turned back to her boyfriend, not seeing it as a threat at all. "Johnny...there's nothing in here."

"T-There's a s-spider," He bit out, staring at her in disbelief.

And that's when Mavis caught on; unable to help it, she started to laugh and giggle. Johnny just frowned at her, clearly not expecting this reaction. "You mean...y-you're scared of that little thing?"

Johnny straightened up, trying to regain some dignity. "I...no, of course not...I just...I don't want it in there."

"But it won't hurt you," Mavis stated, finally stopping her giggling so she could talk properly. "We're bigger than it is - like my dad says, it's probably more scared of us than we are of him."

"He didn't look scared when he came crawling towards me at top speed," The human mumbled, and his girlfriend sighed slightly. "Look...my brother used to play pranks on me, alright? And they always used spiders."

Mavis bent down and picked it up in her hand gently, being careful not to hurt him. "Look at him...he's not going to hurt you."

Johnny looked away quickly, trying to edge out of the room. "OHMYGOD! Please, just get rid of him!"

The vampire gave a little giggle but moved towards the bathroom window; she laid her palm out flat so that the little spider could crawl away, waiting patiently until he did so. "See? Did he bite me?"

When she turned around, her boyfriend just looked at her with wide eyes. "Okay," He said slowly, and his breathing started to slow down. "Now...uh...please wash your hands. Please?"

Mavis rolled her eyes but did so. "Seriously? I don't see what the big deal is," She commented, rubbing soap into the palm of her hands. "There were lots of spiders at the hotel, and you didn't freak out then."

Johnny coughed a little. "Uh...actually I did, but you weren't there to see it." He gave a sigh of relief and gave her a small, thankful smile. "Thanks, May. Really. I don't know what I would have done."

She couldn't help but smile back at him, amused by the whole episode. "No problem. Come on, I want to see the volcanoes you were telling me about..." As she started to walk out of the bathroom so she could leave him to shower, she turned around in the doorway to give him a small smirk. "Oh, and Johnny? Try not to scare any more bugs. That spider I just rescued was going to have a heart attack."


	2. B - Bats

One of the things that Mavis loved the most about being a vampire was the ability to morph into a bat; the ability to fly through the air silently, holding an advantage over her prey. The ability to just relax, spread her wings and feel free, especially after a hard day. And, to be honest, her "pouty face" was proven to work a lot better when she was a furry bat, further sealing the deal.

However, she didn't go very far when she flied - first of all, if she spent too long exploring there was the danger of being caught out when the Sun rose. Besides that, her father was completely against her leaving; she was his only child, and he had to keep her safe from the humans that had killed her mother. She knew that and she completely respected that, even though it did stop her from seeing the world outside the hotel.

She didn't want to leave her Dad on his own anyway; after all, she _could_ have flown anywhere she wanted, if she was careful, but the thought of leaving her father all on his own stopped her. Her father had raised her on his own for more than a hundred years - that couldn't have been easy, especially after the death of her mother. He had no other family members besides her - sure, he had many friends who regularly stayed at the hotel, but it wasn't the same. As much as the young vampire wanted to travel, she wouldn't be able to bear the guilt of leaving her father on his own.

Mavis sighed as she looked out over the forest surrounding the hotel; maybe she wasn't leaving yet, but she would one day. She just knew it.

* * *

Mavis giggled as she looked back at her fiancée, who was flapping his wings half-heartedly. She dived down and landed on the branch next to him, giving him a small smile. "Uhh, Johnny? You kinda need to push off and do it to fly."

Hazel eyes looked back at her, unsure. "Right."

"If you fall, then I'll catch you," She told him softly. "I'm not going to let you get hurt."

Johnny hesitated but then nodded, giving in. "So...so I just have to push off, like jumping, off the branch?" Mavis nodded. "I can do that." He scrunched up his face, shutting his eyes so he didn't have to look, and jumped off the branch while flapping his new wings quickly. There was a moment where he stayed up, and he opened his eyes, grinning at his achievement; the smile disappeared a second later when he started to fall towards the floor.

Before he could hit the ground, however, he felt something grab the back of his fur and lifting him up effortlessly; he looked and saw his fiancée, who was somewhat amused. "Uhh...thanks?"

Mavis dropped him back on the branch and landed next to him. "You're doing really well!" She said encouragingly. "You were totally flying for a moment!"

"It's hard," Johnny muttered in defence. "But you make it look so easy."

"Well, I have been flying for over a hundred years," Mavis pointed out. "And I was born a vampire, so I guess it's just more natural for me. But you'll get the hang of it," She added quickly, seeing his disappointed face. "You've just got to keep trying."

Johnny gave a small grumble but nodded again, straightening up. "Right, okay." He pushed down on the branch and jumped, flapping his wings wildly. Mavis couldn't help but giggle at how silly he looked - he wasn't exactly doing it right.

True to her word, when he started to fall, she flew to grab him in her claws and returned him to the branch. By this point, it was clear the new vampire was becoming quite infuriated with his lack of progress. "You know," She commented cautiously. "Maybe it would be better for my dad to help you."

"Oh, no!" Johnny said quickly, eyes widening. "I-I'm good with you teaching me."

"I've never taught anyone to fly before," Mavis pointed out. "It's...more difficult than I thought." She gave a small sigh but straightened herself up; she wasn't about to give up yet. "Okay, maybe you should stop attempting to fly for a moment - just for a moment!"

Johnny let out another grumble but sat down to look at her.

Mavis thought for a moment. "Okay, now you're just going to watch _me_ fly - watch how my wings move, how my body is positioned."

Without wasting a second, she jumped up from the branch and started to fly, feeling the cool Summer breeze under her wings. She did a couple of laps around the tree they were in before stopping and standing back on the branch. Her boyfriend was watching curiously, eyes slightly wide in awe. "Should I...should I try again?"

Mavis nodded, giving him a quick smile. Johnny positioned himself nervously, stretching out his wings slowly; he pushed off like he'd seen Mavis do, and tried to flap his wings like Mavis did. There was a sick moment where he felt his body start to fall, and the dark-haired vampire gasped from her position in the tree. "Come on, Johnny! Flap a little harder!"

Johnny grit his teeth together and did so, his wings starting to hurt. But then he realized he was no longer falling - he was floating in mid-air. He opened his eyes and grinned, giving a "whoo!" in excitement. "Yeah! Mavis, look at me! I'm flying! Man...this is too cool!"

Mavis flew out of the tree to get closer, laughing along with him. "Come on; see if you can move forwards now." He just looked at her blankly, clearly not wanting to stop flying now that he'd learnt. "Just keep doing what you're doing, but tilt your boy forwards, like this." She showed him, moving forwards a couple of inches.

Johnny copied her, only to fall down again. Mavis grabbed him in her claws before he could even register what had happened; she laughed to herself, shaking her head in amusement. "What?" He asked, glad that he hadn't disappointed her or anything.

"Let's just take this one step at a time," She said, clearly amused.

He looked up at her innocently. "But I'm doing good, right?"

She gave a small giggle. "Yeah. You're doing good."

* * *

The hallways were quiet that evening at the hotel - practically everyone had gone downstairs to the pool to take advantage of the summer weather, and there was now a huge party taking place.

However, the hotel owner had not gone; instead, Dracula had decided to stroll around the different floors of his hotel, wondering where two certain vampires had gone. When his daughter and son-in-law had not appeared, the count knew that something was slightly off - after all, it was a well-known fact that Jonathan was a lover of fun parties.

As he passed a window, something caught his eye. Going back a few steps, he peered out of the window and into the dark night, lit only by the full moon above the castle. At first he didn't see anything - just some trees, as usual - but then two black shapes flew back out into the light.

Dracula could tell that it was Mavis and Jonathan - he could hear their loud voices from miles away. The two of them were flying around in the moonlight, swooping around each other excitedly; the light shone on their fur, Mavis' black and Johnny's reddish-brown, just like his hair. From what he could see, they were now flying closer to each other, until they were probably only centimetres away; they nuzzled heads quickly before flying higher.

The older vampire couldn't help but feel like he was intruding on a personal moment; the father part of him wanted to turn into a bat, fly out there and stop them...but the other half of him just reminded him, " _You and Martha were like that too. Let them have their fun, while they're still young_ ".

In the end, the more sensible half won. Smiling at how happy his daughter and Jonathan were, he continued his patrol on the corridors, listening to the sound of the two bats' yelling and laughter.


	3. C - Catalyst

C - Catalyst

Johnny had been two and a half when his mother announced that she was expecting another baby. Up until that point, Johnny had been the baby of the family - his parents spoiled him rotten, his mother especially, and he got whatever he wanted (though that could of been for good behaviour too).

At first, the arrival of a new baby didn't impact him; his mother and father sat down with him and gently talked him through it, even using the "you'll be a big brother" line and saying that he'd have another playmate. This made the toddler extremely excited, and he couldn't wait for the baby to come. As his mother got bigger and bigger, he started offering to help her around the house; he started putting his ear or hand to his mother's swollen stomach, wondering about his new brother or sister and what they'd be like.

But then he noticed it - his parents were paying less attention to him. Instead of taking him places, his father was staying at home and constructing a crib - when they found out they were expecting twins, another afternoon was spent putting one up. The room had to be painted (or, as it turned out, re-painted because they found out they were expecting two more boys). Even worse, Johnny had to move into his older brother Daniel's room - although they got on relatively well, neither of the brothers were happy about not having a room to themselves anymore.

When his mother was about seven and a half months along, Johnny turned three. The occasion had started to excite him, having something to look forward to something instead of focusing on the changes that these new babies were bringing. However, during the mini-birthday party he'd been given, he noticed that a lot of the relatives who'd come were more interested in talking about the babies than him. Johnny tried all the tricks he knew to receive some attention - sitting on laps, pretending he'd hurt himself, actually hurting himself...instead, the adults just shook their heads at him and turned back to his parents.

Johnny spent the rest of his birthday sitting in his and Daniel's room by himself, half-heartedly playing with the toys he'd been given.

The twins arrived in May that year. His mother's water had broken in the middle of the night, and all of the brothers had been woken by their parents running around and trying to get their overnight bags sorted. They went across the street to ask their neighbour to babysit the boys while they were gone, just until a relative came, and then they were gone. Johnny and Daniel had watched their parents' car drive away in silence; only when they were gone did the older brother hesitantly look at the younger one.

"Johnny," Daniel said quietly, not wanting their babysitter to hear. The red-head looked up at him sleepily - although it was obvious he wasn't too happy. "Don't worry. It's not too bad, not being the littlest."

Before Johnny could say anything his brother crawled back into bed. Johnny didn't feel much like sleeping anymore - instead, he kept watch out of the windows, even though his toes were hurting from him standing on tiptoes for so long, and his eyelids were heavy. In the end, he only waited up another eight minutes before deciding to go back to sleep - maybe he'd wake up and feel better.

He didn't; he woke up to his grandmother ushering him out of bed excitedly; his brother was sitting up tiredly already, looking rather irritated, and Matt and James were standing in the doorway with wide eyes. "Have they been born yet?" James asked, fighting back a yawn.

Their grandma nodded. "Both of them are healthy - no names yet. And, yes, they're both still boys." She turned back around and went over to the wardrobe in the corner of the room. "Now, you all need to get dressed - we're going to see your baby brothers."

And just like that, Johnny was no longer the youngest.

They had to take two cars for all of them to get there. Their grandpa took Matt and James, the two eldest, with him, leaving well before Daniel and Johnny - it was obvious that, because they were eldest, they were going to have to show their younger brothers the correct way to deal with babies. This didn't really bother Johnny - he didn't want to see the babies at all, and all through the car ride with his grandma and brother, he just sat there and pouted out of the window like a stubborn child (which, in all fairness, he was).

There was a quick thirty second talk where the two of them were told that they had to be quiet around the babies as they rushed up the corridor to their mother's hospital room, Johnny trailing a few steps behind them grumpily, and then they went in.

Matt and James were sat down in snuggly little armchairs on one side of the room, each of them holding a blue bundle in their arms while their dad assisted. Their mother smiled weakly at Daniel and Johnny when they came in, reaching her arms out for them. Both brothers hugged her obediently before stepping back; to Johnny's surprise, Daniel's hands were fidgeting slightly as he watched their older brothers coo over the two new bundles, as if he wanted to hold one himself.

"Alright," Their father chuckled, seeing the look on his face. "Matt, James, I think you've held the boys for long enough - teach the other two how to do it."

_Other two. Unbelievable._

The brothers switched places with each other so that the two youngest were sitting down and the two eldest were standing up with the bundles in their arms. "Which one do you want?" Matt asked, shifting the baby around in his arms. "Uhh...Johnny, you pick."

Johnny blinked and glared at the twelve year old - he didn't want to hold either of them if he was honest. "Fine. That one."

Matt rolled his eyes at the slightly hostile response but bent down opposite him to give him the baby. "Look, just move your arms like that...you've got to cradle him...and make sure you support his neck. He can't do that himself yet."

Johnny did as instructed and looked down at the baby with slight interest - he'd never really seen a new-born baby before. There wasn't really anything special, to be honest; it was sleeping with it's face all screwed up, a tuft of what looked like red hair stuck to his head. In fact, he couldn't see how he was meant to play with these new brothers, considering that they were way too small and probably didn't know how.

"What do you think?" He heard his mother ask lightly.

He just shrugged. "Okay."

"You'll get used to them, Johnny," His father assured him, sitting down next to his mother. "And they'll get bigger soon - they'll start exploring and playing before you know it."

To Johnny, that time didn't come soon enough; as soon as the twins came home it was all crying and mess and being kept up at night. At least they had names at this point: Chris and Carl. This made it a little easier, he guessed, because at least he could tell them apart easier; Chris had red hair, just like Johnny and James did, whereas his twin was definitely a brunette. Their eyes were soon different too - blue eyes for Chris and hazel for Carl. But that didn't stop him from hating the new additions to their family when they kept him up at night; if one wasn't crying, it was the other. Johnny was seriously considering asking to live with his grandparents for the rest of his life before it finally kicked in.

It was only when the twins were nine months old that he realized they certainly had gotten bigger; in fact, they were even becoming sort of fun...they were both starting to crawl around and pick stuff up, which Johnny found a huge improvement since they'd arrived. Okay, sure, they weren't exactly as independent as Johnny and his older brothers were, but he guessed that they would be when they got older.

The icing on top of the cake came as he was watching television with his family one evening, the twins being allowed to crawl around the floor and explore harmlessly. Maybe it was because Johnny was forced to sit on the floor since there was no more room on the couches, but that wasn't the point; he felt a tugging on his t-shirt, a tiny little pull. The nearly-four-year old looked away from the TV and saw Carl sitting next to him. The baby smiled at him happily and lifted his finger to point at him while babbling something.

"That's right," He heard his mother say excitedly from one of the couches. "That's Johnny, your big brother."

All eyes were on him, waiting for him to do something - judging by his behaviour over the last few weeks, it was probably to grumble and storm out. Instead, he just smiled back at the baby and reached to ruffle his hair. Carl giggled and crawled forwards to grab a building block that had been left out.

As Carl went back to playing, occasionally looking back at his older brother as if wanting him to join in, Johnny thought hard on the whole big brother business - sure, he was no longer the main focus of the family anymore, which did still kind of annoy him. But he got new roles instead, he realized - he could help his little brothers play sports or videogames (when they got old enough); he wouldn't be teased by his older brothers as much for being the baby of the family either.

And, hey, being an older brother meant he could finally tell someone ( _two people,_ he thought with glee) what to do.

Yeah, he decided, sometimes changes weren't that bad.

* * *

The sun was nearly due to come up, and yet Mavis didn't move from her position by the window of her bedroom, looking out at the brightening sky with worried eyes. From behind her she heard the door open and shut, and then the sound of sneakers pattering across the carpet. "Uhh...Mavis? Maybe you should move."

She didn't respond, instead training her eyes on the forest surrounding the castle.

She heard her husband sigh slightly. "Look, I really don't see how-"

"Just leave it," Mavis muttered, finally shutting the curtains to the window and moving to sit down on the bed. "It doesn't matter."

"Exactly," Johnny agreed, sitting down opposite her and grabbing her hands clumsily. "I mean, lots of couples have kids; look at my parents! They had seven of us!" There was a long silence between them; Johnny's smile slipped from his face. "You don't want kids, is that what you're saying?"

"No, of course not!" Mavis answered somewhat tearfully, lifting her head up to look at him properly. "I just...it's too soon. We still had so many places to visit - I wanted to go to Hawaii again..."

"And we will go," Johnny assured her quickly, really not wanting her to start crying. "We'll just take a little break, just until...until _they_ don't need us anymore." At the word 'they' he couldn't help but look down and gesture at Mavis' still-flat stomach. On instinct she covered it by folding her arms over it and hunching over. The red-head couldn't help but feel slightly disheartened by her reaction. "Alright, fine. I guess it's a lot to take in."

Mavis just gave a tiny nod. "I'm...scared. I know it sounds weird, but I just...I don't want to ruin things."

"Ruin what?" Johnny asked, raising an eyebrow.

Mavis hesitated for a moment; and then she remembered that Johnny was her zing. She could tell him anything and he wouldn't judge. "Us. I mean, I love you a lot and I know you love me too, but a baby is...a big thing." She looked down so she didn't have to meet his gaze. "Having a baby would change everything, Johnny; we wouldn't have time to just be us, to be together like we are now. We'd be tired all the time, and we won't have time for each other...look at how tired Wayne looks all the time." She looked back up at him, studying his face for a reaction. "Don't get me wrong; I really wanted us to have kids...but just not yet."

The two vampires sat in silence for a moment, unsure what else to say. Finally Johnny straightened up and said, "You know what? I'm scared too. I mean, I've had enough experience with babies to know that they're difficult work to take care of." He gently squeezed her hand tighter, causing her to look up at him. "But I think we'll be alright. It's just another step forward, right?"

Mavis gave an unsure nod, not completely convinced yet. "Yeah. I guess so."

"And, Mavis," He smiled at her brightly, gazing at her lovingly. "Trust me. Having a baby is going to strengthen our relationship; we're gonna need to help each other out, right?"

Mavis just gave him a tiny, curious smile. "So...You're excited? Not upset or anything?"

Johnny snorted. "Are you kidding me? I grew up with six brothers - a family is something I kinda want." Mavis leaned forwards and pressed her lips to his in relief, wrapping her arms around him. He grinned into the kiss, hugging her back.

When they pulled away, however, Johnny's smile slipped of his face quickly, leaving the other vampire confused. "Johnny? Are you alright?"

"Your dad is gonna kill me," He muttered, eyes going wide with fright.

Mavis rolled her eyes slightly at this. "I don't see why; I'm not one hundred and eighteen anymore - I mean, I'm a fully grown vampire and I'm married!" This didn't seem to reassure him, so she tried a different tactic. "I - personally - think that he'd be happy; he loves kids, and he's good with them. And I'm pretty sure he'd like an excuse to throw a party for me again - he hasn't done it in a while."

Johnny, finally gaining some composure back, nodded hopefully. "Yeah, I suppose you're right..." He gave her another grin, a sparkle in his hazel eyes. "We're having a baby."

"Yeah," Mavis said, smirking a little. "Unless all five tests I took were wrong, then we're having a baby."

"Awesome," Johnny muttered, ducking down to kiss her again. "Just checking."


	4. D - Date

The first time Johnny went on a date - believe it or not - was when he was a senior in High School. Most of his peers had easily dated a variety of girls, but for Johnny it was more difficult; most girls in High School wanted a football player, or someone who did some kind of sporting activity. Johnny had definitely not been one of those people in High School; he wasn't a nerd or anything, he was...just there, going along with whatever was thrown at him.

It was only on the last week of the year that a girl walked up to him, somewhat nervously. "Hi."

He blinked at her; he vaguely recognised her as a girl named 'Bella', who'd never really talked to him before. Nonetheless, he gave her a nervous smile back. "Uhh...hi?"

"So," She said awkwardly. "We're going to college soon, right? And I was just wondering..." She coughed, looking away from him and curling a strand of hair around her finger. "Maybe you'd...like to catch a movie or something?"

Johnny blinked again, not knowing what to say. He'd never been out with a girl before, and he'd never really thought about going out with Bella if he was honest. But then he remembered - his brothers were always teasing him about not having a girlfriend or anything, especially James and Matt.

So instead of turning her down, he muttered, "Umm...okay."

Bella smiled, looking very relieved suddenly. "Oh, cool! So...maybe we could go and see that new Harry Potter film? I don't know if you're into that kind of thing-"

"No, no. Harry Potter's cool," Johnny interrupted before she could start rambling.

"A-And maybe we could go for a bite to eat afterwards?" Bella offered.

Johnny gave a nervous nod. "Sure. How about...tomorrow afternoon? Five o'clock?"

Bella nodded in agreement before turning bright red and walking back to her nearby group of friends, leaving the red-head to stand in the corridor feeling rather awkward. He didn't feel good about just going out with her to stop his brothers' teasing - and besides that, he was nervous about screwing up on the date.

The following afternoon, Johnny practically had a mini-heart attack when he remembered his date was nearing, and he'd practically torn his and Daniel's room apart just to find a piece of clean clothing to wear. By the time he was actually ready to go, their arranged meeting time was only five minutes away. Not even bothering to say goodbye to his parents, he'd raced to the local theatre as fast as he could without tripping over - even then he was about five minutes late.

Bella was already there, and she smiled nervously at him when he arrived. "Sorry Sorry Sorry!" He blurted, skidding to a stop in front of her. "I...er..."

"It's fine," She laughed, waving it off. Her right hand reached up to fiddle with one of her curls. "So...do you wanna go in?"

The date actually started off pretty great; after they got their popcorn and drinks they ended up talking just before the film started, and were soon laughing uncontrollably at the stories they told each other. Even during the movie they found themselves shooting looks at each other in reaction to certain lines, and continued watching with smiles on their faces. After the film, the two headed down the street to a small bistro that Bella was fond of to get a sandwich for dinner.

"You know, I'd never actually seen a Harry Potter film all the way through before today," Bella commented, giggling a little as she sipped her diet soda. "I mean, I've seen bits here and there, but it's not really the same."

"Yeah, me neither," Johnny agreed, stirring his straw around in his milkshake glass. "My little brothers always try to make me watch it with them, but then they talk all the way through, so..."

There was a pause in the conversation as their waitress gave them their food. They both thanked her before turning back to their conversation.

"So, you're going to college in Chicago, right?" Johnny asked, taking a rather large bite of his sandwich.

Bella nodded. "Yes. I'm going to study Journalism there." She peered up at him through long lashes. "What about you? No one ever says anything about you."

The red-head quickly swallowed his food, not wanting to gross out his date by spitting bits of food at her. "I'm not going to college. Well...not yet."

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow curiously. "Why? What are you doing?"

"I'm travelling," He said simply. "I'm starting with Hawaii, and then I'm going to all the other states...and then I'll probably head over to Europe...and then wherever."

Bella stopped eating suddenly, putting her sandwich down on her plate and looking quite unimpressed. "So...you're going to just get on a plane and not do anything but see places?"

Johnny didn't really like the way the tone of the conversation had changed, but gave a tiny nod anyway; maybe she'd calm down in a minute.

"So you're not going to go out there and try to get a job?" She asked in disbelief. Johnny meekly shook his head. "Oh. I just...I always thought that you had plans..."

Johnny nodded quickly, nearly choking on his food as he tried to swallow it too quickly. "I do! Yeah, I'm going to travel, and then maybe I'll apply to college and I'll go from there." He thought for a moment. "I'm just rolling with it."

Bella shook her head, looking mortified all of a sudden. "I see."

There was a long uncomfortable silence - Johnny really didn't like how this date had gone from great to awful. Really not wanting this date to end badly, he shoved the rest of his food into his mouth, barely fitting it in, and mumbled in a rather unattractive way, "Let me walk you home".

Well. He had meant for it to come out that way. Instead it just came out as "'Et 'e wa' u' h'me."

Safe to say that Bella was not impressed by this; she made a disgusted face and stood up. "I'm going home. Thanks for the movie and sandwich, I guess..."

Johnny shot upwards, wanting to stop her from leaving; instead, he just banged the table so hard that it sent both his milkshake and her soda flying across the table and onto her outfit. He froze up where he was, eyes widening in shock. "Oh m'a Go'!"

Bella stared down at her ruined outfit, looking absolutely livid. "You idiot! You've DESTROYED my outfit!"

Johnny flushed as everyone in the establishment turned to stare at them. He finally managed to swallow the rest of his food and bowed his head in an apology. "Bella, I am so sorry-"

"I don't want to hear it!" She snarled, grabbing her handbag and glaring at him in disgust. "Thanks for ruining my evening, jerk."

As she stormed away, Johnny sat back down on his chair slowly, not quite sure what to make of this particular experience. Surely not all dates went that badly...maybe it was just bad luck on a bad day...

"Young man?" He looked up, only to see their waitress. "You need to pay the bill."

Yeah. This was a bad day.

* * *

When he'd met Mavis, things had been different; he could tell right from the moment her met her. There was something about her, something that was different - well, besides the fangs of course. Because of this, he really wanted to do the best for her and treat her like she deserved.

First thing: a proper date.

It wasn't like they hadn't hung out before; they were travelling the world together, so they kind of had no choice but to be around each other all the time. But it was only when they visited Paris just before Christmas that year that Johnny realized that they'd never been on a real date before - they'd never gone out for dinner or a movie before. Mavis had never been on a date _at all_ : at least Johnny had had some experience (although not necessarily good experience).

He didn't want this date to be awful and awkward though; Mavis deserved an amazing and special one. To make sure this actually happened, Johnny knew he had to plan it out beforehand, so that he knew exactly what to do; he secretly researched on his phone while she was still asleep during the day; he started to ask some of the locals who could speak English about great places for dates - he had to make sure that she was going to love it.

It wasn't until their penultimate night in Paris that his plans got put to good use; he'd managed to get all the necessary tickets and bookings for the night, and now he just had to convince her to go along with it.

"We're going out tonight," He said proudly after they'd woken up from their daytime sleep.

Mavis smiled. "We go out every night, Johnny..."

"Yeah, but this is special." Mavis tilted her head - a sign that she was intrigued. Johnny took this as a good sign and continued. "We're going on a date - a proper date, not just sight-seeing." He jumped up off the bed so that he could get ready. "Come on, we have to be there at a certain time."

"Be where?" Mavis asked, looking somewhat surprised by his plan.

Johnny placed a finger to his lips. "You'll see soon."

Mavis groaned in response but didn't press any further. While the vampire went through their bags to find a nice outfit (one that didn't include a cape), Johnny quickly showered and cleaned himself up - it was weird, he thought to himself: he and Mavis had been travelling together for months, and yet he still felt somewhat nervous. He just hoped that she liked it - after all, a lot of effort had been put into planning it for her.

Before that date though, there was an even bigger challenge; finding clothes that didn't stink too badly. It was only when he left the bathroom, his girlfriend slipping inside afterwards and shutting the door, that he realized how difficult this task was going to be. It wasn't like he needed anything too fancy - maybe just jeans and a shirt would cut it. Clean jeans weren't too difficult to find (he usually wore his cargo shorts instead, so most of his jeans were untouched and not ripped still), but he didn't really have a shirt that was appropriate for the occasion.

 _Hmm...maybe this'll do,_ He thought to himself, holding a light blue button-up above his head to look at it properly. There was no doubt it was clean, since he'd never worn it - there was no point when you're travelling to dress up. He'd thought it was a waste to bring it along with him at first, but now he couldn't help but feel thankful that he had.

The human quickly pulled on the outfit and examined himself in the mirror; he looked okay, he guessed. It would have to do; now he just had to focus on his hair. Unsurprisingly, it was just as messy and wild as usual. _They'll never let me in looking like this,_ he thought, and he quickly reached back into his backpack to find a comb of some sort - he wouldn't be able to tame it completely, but at least it'd look a little tidier.

He was only halfway through combing the mess when the bathroom door opened and Mavis walked out; on instinct, Johnny turned to look at her, only to have his breath taken away. "You look beautiful," He said in awe, mirroring the words he'd said at her birthday party.

Mavis just gave a laugh. "Thanks." She really did look beautiful too - instead of her usual black dress she was wearing a dark blood-red blouse (very appropriate, Johnny mused) with a black skirt, just down to the knee. She was also wearing plain black tights, and Johnny guessed that she'd either put on her usual red sneakers or a pair of heels she had in a minute. Her eyes scanned him, and her smile brightened. "You look pretty great too. So, can you tell me where we're going yet, or is it still top secret?"

"Top secret," Johnny replied seriously as he started looking for some kind of smart shoes he could wear. "Oh, and make sure to bring a coat - it's gonna be freezing out there."

"So the surprise is outdoors?" Mavis guessed, bowing her head down and looking up at him through long eyelashes while giving him a dazzling smile.

Johnny rolled his eyes slightly at her (admittedly well done) attempt to find out. "That won't work on me - just wait until we get there."

They were out of the hotel within five minutes; Johnny had eventually given up on his hair when he realised what the time was, and the two had left so that they could enjoy their evening together.

Walking through the streets of Paris in daylight is one thing - walking through it at night was another, completely amazing thing. The streets were lit up at night, giving off a romantic glow to all those walking; other couples seemed to be doing the same thing as Mavis and Johnny were, walking hand in hand and huddling close together in the Winter weather. Johnny felt kind of thankful that he'd decided to do this during the Winter, since it meant they could be outside and doing more things each night (even though that did equate to less sleep too); this way, he didn't have to worry about Mavis' safety on their date as much.

From beside him, Mavis let out a gasp and stopped their strolling. "Are we going in there?"

Johnny looked and nodded, turning to give her a wide grin. "Yep."

Seeing the look on her face had been worth not telling her anything - she looked completely shocked and surprised, blue eyes wide and lips turning up into a smile. "Johnny..."

"Come on," He prompted, starting to walk again. "If we don't get in there then they won't serve us."

The Maitre d' near the front of the restaurant seemed nice enough - he greeted them pleasantly, gave Mavis a friendly smile, and asked for their details before seating them at a table near to a window and giving them menus. Mavis looked out of the window in awe, and Johnny smiled at how happy she looked. "Do you like my little request?" He asked before he could stop himself.

Mavis looked at him, mouth falling open slightly. "You asked for them to seat us here?"

Johnny nodded. "Yeah. My family took us here to eat a couple of years ago on a holiday, and we got seated here - I just remembered the table number and thought you'd like it."

"I do," Mavis agreed, sending him a loving look across the table. "There's such a beautiful view from here..."

"Not as beautiful as the view I have right now," Johnny muttered, not caring how cheesy that line was because it was just true. He was sure that if she could have, then Mavis would have blushed at his comment. Instead she reached across the table and grabbed his hand tightly, giving him the brightest smile he'd ever seen. He didn't think it was possible, but he felt as though he'd fallen more in love with her.

"So," Mavis finally said, voice soft and gentle. "What kind of food do they have here? You know...meat-wise." Although she could eat other foods (and enjoyed them too), she was desperately craving some meat of some kind, especially since she hadn't had too many blood beaters of late.

Johnny stared at her lovingly for a moment before realising she'd asked a question. "Oh...uh...they do stuff like steaks on their own...chicken with some other stuff..." He smirked at the next option. "They eat snails over here too."

Mavis blinked, her smile becoming a laugh. "Really?" She questioned. "Could I try some?"

Well, that threw him off. Johnny stared at her again, this time in utter disbelief. "You really want to eat snails?"

Mavis shrugged and gave a nod, looking completely serious. "Yeah - why?" She gave him a tiny joking smirk. "Do you find that kind of thing gross?"

Johnny thought back to their time at the castle - he'd seen her eat scorpions, scream cheese and wormcakes, all of which he'd never really consider eating. However, it didn't seem weird to think that she'd want to eat snails in all honesty, so he shook his head. "No - whatever you want. Now, lemme just pick my meal and then we can sit and talk."

The rest of their dinner flowed just as smoothly; the human was relieved that he didn't end up spitting chunks of food at her accidentally when he talked, and also that Mavis didn't pull what he now called "a Bella" and storm out on him. The only minor disagreement had been when the bill came and Johnny insisted he pay it, much to Mavis' hesitant complaints.

"I can't believe you paid for all of that," Mavis said as they walked back outside. It was starting to snow, so they snuggled closer together to keep warm. "You should have at least let me pay half-"

"Nope," Johnny disagreed cheerfully. "I'm taking _you_ on a date, not the other way around. Consider it a present." He coughed, looking around. "Okay...now we're going that way-"

"There's more?" Mavis asked in surprise, looking at him with a slightly amazed look. "Johnny, you didn't need to-"

"I wanted to," He interjected, steering her down a road quickly. "You don't have a fear of heights, right?" The look she sent him was all the answer he needed. He grinned at her, muttered a "just checking" and pressed a kiss to the side of her head as they continued to walk to their next destination.

"So, what kind of surprise is this one?" Mavis asked, sending him a hopeful smile. Johnny didn't answer, instead putting his fingers to his lips in secrecy. "Seriously? It wouldn't hurt to tell me, you know."

"It wouldn't hurt for it to be a surprise...here we go." He unlinked their hands, much to his girlfriend's dismay. "Okay...I'm gonna cover your eyes, so it's perfect; do you mind if I just-"

"Do it," Mavis giggled, standing still and waiting. Johnny quickly removed the scarf he'd been wearing and covered her eyes with it, being careful not to hurt her or anything. "You're lucky I trust you."

"Yeah, I know." He moved to stand in front of her now, and took her hands in his. "Don't worry...I've got you...just walk when I tell you - and no peeking!"

"I'm not!" She laughed, unsteadily walking forwards when he tugged on her hands to lead her. "How far away is it?"

Johnny looked at the sky to see if he could see the top of the building they were going to. "Uhh...down the road and around the corner, I think."

It took a little longer than it normally would have, since Mavis couldn't see where she was going and she was relying on Johnny's navigational skills (which were average at best), but the human knew that it would be worth it in the end.

"Okay..." He said slowly when they were across the road; he turned her around on the spot so that she was facing it and then started to untie the knot at the back of her head. "And...open!"

As the scarf fell away, he could hear Mavis' intake of breath as she looked. "Holy rabies! Is this...?"

"The Eiffel Tower," Johnny finished triumphantly. "So, you like it?"

"It's amazing," Mavis commented. "I mean, I've seen pictures and everything, but not when it's...it's all lit up like this at night!"

Johnny grinned in agreement. "Yeah, I always preferred it at night too." He looked at her from the side. "Do you want to go up?"

She turned to him quickly, suddenly overexcited. "We can go inside of it?!"

"Yeah! There's like a little elevator that takes you up to the top or wherever." He offered her his hand again, and she took it with a smile on her face as they walked across the road to get to the entrance. "The view is incredible from the top, you've got to see it! I went up there with a couple of my older brothers once - I got scared though, since they threatened to push me off before we got here..." He sighed at the memories. "Good times."

The two patiently waited in line to have their tickets checked - lots of people had also shared Johnny 's ideas on a way to spend the night. There was another slightly shorter wait after to get on the elevator, but the young couple didn't mind too much since it gave them plenty of time to talk and joke. Johnny never tired of talking to Mavis - she always seemed to have something intelligent to say, no matter what the occasion.

When they finally managed to get on an elevator, Johnny made sure that they were close to one of the glass walls so that they could watch their way up. Mavis was ecstatic throughout the entire journey up - it was obvious she was too excited to hold it in.

Finally the doors slid open and they got off with the other people who'd remained to go to th top. Mavis immediately walked to look over the edge of the safety gate and leaned over to get a better look at the city.

"This is so incredible," She murmured to Johnny when he appeared next to her. "I never knew that a city could have so many lights..."

As Johnny looked at her, he found himself at a loss for words: he never knew that see in someone so happy and innocent would make him feel so content. He'd never seen anyone look as beautiful as she did in that moment either; the lights from the bustling city below shone on her face, lighting it up different colours, and her eyes...they were shining brighter than any star or gem he'd seen in his life.

She turned to look at him, a radiant smile on her face. "It's so amazing, isn't it?"

Johnny wrapped an arm around her waist, not taking his eyes off of her. "It sure is."


	5. E - Everyone

E - Everyone

Mavis really did like living at the hotel; everyday she found herself meeting new monsters, some kinds that she hadn't even known to exist. They were all relatively nice too (although she couldn't understand what some of them said sometimes, since they all came from different places and spoke different languages, but she was sure it was nice anyway), and she certainly didn't mind giving them a friendly greeting in the hallways or lobby when she passed by them. Of course, there were the monsters that Mavis was more familiar with, such as her Uncle Frank, but that was because...well, they were her uncles and aunts.

However, being Dracula's daughter wasn't all that easy; as much as she loved meeting everyone and making new friends, it still freaked her out when they ogled her and whispered just because of who her father was. By the time she was ninety, she'd had enough of it - her feeling of being freaking out was replaced with a feeling of severe annoyance whenever she caught someone staring or whispering. To make matters worse, she couldn't even read a normal monster's magazine without her father and her being mentioned in some way - no matter what the article or whatever was about, it would always mention towards the end, " _Count Dracula lives with his daughter, Mavis, at their hotel in Transylvania_ ".

She wasn't stupid; she knew that her father was somewhat famous to monsters all over the world. After all, he'd built a hotel for monsters so they could be safe, going as far as to make sure no humans could even get close to it. Of course she understood this - but it didn't stop her from being quite annoyed that everyone wanted to know about them and their lives. It got so annoying that, in the end, she started to hole herself up in her room all night, only leaving to go out hunting with her dad or to talk to one of her Uncles or Aunts. Sometimes, if she really couldn't stand being in her room for so long, she'd simply turn into purple mist or a bat and fly around a little bit: that way, no one could really stare at her for too long and realize who she was.

Mavis loved meeting new people - she really did - but she still just wished that she could walk around her own home without hearing everyone talk about her as if she wasn't there.

* * *

It's strange what being in love can do to a person; it can make someone immune to everything and everyone else in the world except for their love; it can make someone act in a completely stupid way, or change for the better.

To Mavis, it was the most amazing feeling in the world - being able to look at her boyfriend and remember, with a jolt, " _hey, that utterly adorable dork is mine_ ". She found herself staring at him if she woke up before him in the evenings: at the slope of his nose and the cute smattering of freckles across his cheeks, or sometimes the adorable way he snored with his mouth open a tiny bit, his hair falling into his face. When he was awake, he got impossibly cuter in her eyes; he could trip over absolutely nothing and get up as if nothing had happened, for example. Her favourite thing had been just seeing him grin in amazement at the various things they saw; his face lit up, as if he were a little boy, and his grin was just the cutest thing ever.

Yes, Mavis might have been a little lovesick at this point.

Of course, something had to come and ruin it.

Just because Mavis was travelling with her boyfriend, it didn't mean that she didn't want to hear what was going on back home in the Monster world; of course, going from place to place in the world made it difficult to find a way to find out any news, and she found herself confined to receiving letters from her father (which, of course, would omit certain things if the Count saw fit). Luckily, Johnny was nothing but supportive in distracting her - he made sure that they were having so much fun that Mavis didn't think too much about what was going on at home.

It was when they returned to the hotel about six months later, just to show Dracula that his daughter was still in one piece (and to see Mavis' Uncles and Aunts of course) that she finally started picking up on what news was about, and what everyone else was doing.

The first hint had been when the couple were walking down the corridor to their rooms - Dracula had still not allowed them to share a room with each other, even though, as they argued, they'd been sharing hotel rooms for half a year now - passing various monsters as they talked. Some of them sent the couple a smile and asked quick questions about how their trip had gone, to which they just said it was good. However, it soon became apparent that not everyone was as welcoming.

"As much as I love Paris," Johnny was saying animatedly. "I really do love being in this hotel - it's awesome that we get to meet so many monst-"

"- _I don't believe it._ "

" _After what happened to her mother?_ "

"- _Some nerve-_ "

Mavis stopped walking, her boyfriend doing the same when he noticed this; the vampire narrowed her eyes as she listened to the whispers, not missed by her fantastic sense of hearing. "Mavis?" Johnny questioned quietly. "You okay?"

Mavis didn't answer, instead looking in the direction of where the whispers were coming from - a group of different types of monsters, who were heading for one of the elevators. "I can't believe it..."

"Mavis, can we go to you room?" Johnny asked uncomfortably - she realised that he'd heard it too, and felt even more incensed all of a sudden. Johnny must have sensed her anger rising just by looking at her face, because she felt him start to tug her hand to start walking again. "Come on, let's just go to your room - I don't care what Drac says, I'm staying with you."

It took a lot of effort, but Mavis finally gave a nod, turning back to her boyfriend so that they could continue walking to her room. There were a couple of other times she heard monsters whispering something, but before she could so much as turn her head to look at them Johnny would squeeze her hand tightly to distract her.

The second time was the next evening when they went to get breakfast. Mavis had, reluctantly, put the past events behind her, and was now laughing happily as she and Johnny walked into the dining room and joked around light-heartedly. They both gave a small wave to Frank and Eunice, who were across the room talking to a couple of skeletons, and went to the buffet table to get their food.

At first, the food had been a slight problem for Johnny - as much as he loved Mavis and being able to stay at the hotel, he wasn't quite prepared to eat some of the food they served. Luckily, Dracula had hired a new chef to take over from Quasimodo (much to the Johnny's delight) that not only specialised in monster food but human food too (the reasons as to why he specialised in both areas were never properly discussed).

"Not bad," Johnny commented as he looked over the different plates of human breakfast food; eggs, bacon, sausages...everything in a fry-up, and it honestly smelt delicious to him. He picked up a plate and started to pile the food on.

Mavis watched him with a small smirk on her face. "Hungry much?"

Johnny just gave a nod and picked up some utensils. "What are you having?"

Mavis gestured to a large plate of wormcakes. "A few of those..." She sighed slightly; as much as she liked certain human foods, she had missed having a plate of wormcakes for breakfast very much. Her stomach grumbled eagerly as she put some of them onto her plate.

When she turned around, she saw that Eunice was waving for her to come over. Mavis gave her a smile and nodded before turning to her boyfriend. "Johnny, I'm just going to go and talk to my Auntie Eunice for a minute...would you be able to find a table somewhere?"

Johnny nodded, already looking around. "On it." He took her plate and set off immediately; within seconds he'd _nearly_ tripped over, only to regain his footing at the last moment and yell an, "All good!" at any monsters who had seen. Mavis rolled her eyes affectionately at him and set off to talk to Eunice.

Of course, her Aunt Eunice seemed to do nothing but talk; she immediately asked the vampire about all of the details of her trip, what it was like, what the food was like in comparison to monster food...By the time Mavis had finished talking to her aunt, she was starving. She said a quick goodbye to the gossipy flesh golem and started to wander around the dining hall in search of her boyfriend. Her eyes found him quickly, and she made her way over to him.

He was standing in front of a table, both plates in his hands still, talking to a couple of monsters. At first Mavis thought that they were just simply having a friendly conversation, maybe talking about what travelling had been like. But when she got closer and she could hear better, she realized this wasn't the case.

"Dudes, I just wanted to sit here with my girlfriend," She heard Johnny say, his voice just a little bit annoyed. "I don't get why you're ignoring my questi-"

One of the monsters snorted slightly. "Come on, Bern...I've lost my appetite anyway."

The two monsters stood up, heads held high, and walked away; Mavis frowned when she saw that they'd left their half-eaten breakfast plates on the table.

"So...can I sit here?" Johnny called after them to no avail.

Mavis stopped behind him and cleared her throat. The human spun around, barely managing to keep their food on the plates. He grinned at her. "Hi, Mavis. I think I just got us a table." He put the plates down on the table, away from the other monsters' food. When he looked back at her, realizing that she hadn't moved, he gave her a confused look. "Come on...I mean, my food's probably cold enough already, what with how long it took to find a table..."

"What were they saying?" Mavis asked, her voice hard.

Johnny just shrugged. "Nothing...just asking about...you know, how the trip went..."

"You're an awful liar," Mavis told him. He grinned for a couple of seconds before realizing she was serious. "What were they asking? Was it to do with you being a human?"

Johnny gestured to their chairs. "We need to eat - I know you get tired after flights, so we need to sit down." When she didn't move, instead folding her arms and looking at him pointedly, he sighed and gave in. "Fine; I'll tell you while we eat."

Deciding that it was a fair enough deal, Mavis sat down next to him and started to cut up her wormcakes - she didn't eat them yet though. "So, are you gonna tell me what they said, or do I need to ask them myself?"

Johnny paused in putting some egg into his mouth, his mind obviously trying to work out what to say. "It was nothing really."

"Nothing?" Mavis asked in disbelief, watching as he started to eat. "Is that why you sounded kind of annoyed with them?"

"I wasn't annoyed," Johnny lied, mouth full of food. "I was just...they kept asking me stuff instead of telling me if we could sit here. That's it." He looked down at her still full plate. "Aren't you going to eat? I thought you'd have missed the food."

"Stop changing the subject," The vampire said, sighing and sitting back. She'd lost her appetite by this point. "I cannot believe this; they were totally being rude to you, and I know it."

"Alright, fine," Johnny relented, putting his fork down - now he wasn't in the mood for eating either. "But what can I do about it, Mavis? Not everyone's going to like me, and there's nothing I can do about that, so why bother thinking too much of it?"

Mavis didn't particularly agree with this opinion, but said nothing.

By the morning, though, she felt like she was going to burst; it seemed that no matter where they went, someone had an opinion on their relationship that _must_ be shared with everyone else. In all fairness, it wasn't like they were trying to get Mavis to hear them - she only heard because of her acute sense of hearing. Before the Sun even started to rise, Mavis had decided to go back to her room just so she didn't have to hear what everyone was saying.

"This is ridiculous!" She seethed as Johnny as she walked down the corridor to her room (which had unofficially become "their room" the night before when Johnny snuck into her room). Johnny, who was nowhere near as fast as a vampire, was half-jogging to keep up. "You're about as dangerous as I am!"

Johnny stopped for a moment and blinked. "Actually, to most humans-"

"I mean to monsters," She clarified as he started to jog again, trying not to snap at him. They reached her room then, and Mavis shoved the door open angrily. "You wouldn't hurt anybody - they saw that last year!" She started pacing quickly, and Johnny, at a loss about what to do, shut the door and went to sit down on her bed. He watched her, hazel eyes trained on her. "How dare they? Just because you're a human - it's discrimination, that's what!"

When she turned to face the red-head he just shrugged, not sure what to say. "Look," He said finally. "I get where they're coming from - this time last year, there weren't any humans here. Of course they're going to freak out a little."

"There's a difference between 'freaking out' and being rude."

Johnny sighed and laid back on the bed as she started pacing again; he didn't like seeing her this het up, especially over this particular matter. They hadn't discussed changing him at this point, even though they'd both thought about it at some point, so he decided not to bring it up. "If it's really that big a deal, I could go around in my Johnny-stein costume. That way nobody would know, right?"

Mavis stopped pacing, her anger melting away slightly. "No," She said softly, her voice now sounding quite defeated. "There's no point; most of the monsters here already know that it's a disguise, and those who don't will just get told by those who do know." She turned to face him again, eyes not looking at him but at the floor. "I don't want you wearing a costume anyway; as cute as it was, it's not you."

"I don't mind," Johnny told her. "I mean, yeah, the hairspray's kinda a pain, and don't even get me started on the paint...But you're unhappy with everyone whispering - they're whispering about me being a human, so shouldn't I try to blend in to stop that?"

Suddenly, Mavis was sitting on the edge of the bed beside him and looking at him seriously. "Thank you for offering," She muttered, trying not to sound put out. "But this isn't your fault - it's everyone else's for...for sticking their noses where they don't belong."

Now that she was thinking about it, she started to get her thoughts together again; yes, it was very annoying that everyone was talking about them like they weren't there, like they didn't have feelings, and Mavis would have given anything for them to stop. But then she looked at Johnny - he didn't seem to care too much. In fact, he just seemed happy that he was allowed in the hotel at all, even if it was to the discomfort of some guests. As for the Johnny-stein idea, yes, that was very sweet to offer, but Mavis didn't want that - why should her boyfriend have to put on make-up and pretend to be someone he wasn't just because some monsters - monsters who had never even met him - had a problem with him?

She felt him put a hand on hers. "I don't care what they say about me," He told her, giving her a smile. "All I know is that you're my zing, and I want to be with you. If that means putting up with a few comments now and then, then so be it." Johnny squeezed her hand tightly. "Besides, the only monsters I care about making friends with here are the great ones, like your Dad and Uncles, who don't have a problem with me."

Mavis finally smiled, feeling a lot better all of a sudden. "Well, if you don't care then why should I?"

Johnny grinned. "Exactly. Now...would it help to tell you I love you?"

"I love you too," Mavis laughed, leaning forwards and pressing her lips to his.


	6. F - Firsts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: I guess I should mention that one of the sections is a little adult, if you know what I mean...I mean, the activities aren't explained in detail, and there's no mention of anatomical terms either. Mentions of condoms and first times.
> 
> Second Warning: SPOILER - Birth of a baby. Again, really only consists of screaming and yelling. Mentions of pain, dilation and having to push. If that makes you squeamish, then don't read the last section.

The first time Johnny rode a bike was scary.

He could remember it vividly in his mind; the safety wheels being taken off, the feel of the unsteady bike he was sitting on, and the way his safety helmet hardly covered all of his hair. He remembered his dad helping to hold him steady at first before letting go; he remembered falling flat on his face in a heap and worrying about a car hitting him.

After he fell down a few times, he tried to give up - his father wouldn't let him. "Practice makes perfect, son," He had said, helping the seven year old up off the ground and back onto the bike. "Come on...keep trying and we'll get there."

Johnny had been a clumsy child - he fell over again and again and again. By the end of the first day of practice, he had more bruises than he could count on his knees and arms from falling so much. He'd held back sniffles, not wanting to look like a baby in front of his parents or brothers, instead waiting until he got to his room to shed a tear.

His father and he started practicing early the next morning. This time with the addition of knee-pads and elbow-pads, Johnny was sat on his bike with his dad holding on at the back. "I'm gonna hold you," His father said gently, moving to do so. "You just need to put your feet on the pedals and try - I'll be right here with you."

Johnny nodded, squeezing his eyes shut and doing so. The moment his feet left the ground, the bike started to wobble, and his right foot shot to the floor to steady himself.

His father gripped the bike tighter. "I'm not gonna let you fall, Johnny - trust me."

Johnny did trust his father a lot, so he grit his teeth and decided he should trust him on this. "Okay," He squeaked, gripping the handles. He lifted his feet off the ground, one at a time, and put them on the little pedals. He could feel the bike shake a little unsteadily, but he didn't fall to the floor. Taking this as a good sign, he looked to his father for further instructions.

"Okay, now try and pedal."

Johnny looked down at his feet nervously - he could do this. Taking a deep breath, he pushed his right foot down on the pedal, so it rolled around. This caused the bike to inch forwards, and the red-head couldn't help but whimper slightly.

"It's okay," His father said in a low voice, his hold tightening. "I've got you buddy."

The seven year old nodded and started to slowly push down on the pedals. Once again, the bike started to move slowly...going further and further...

"I'm doing it!" He shouted, badly wanting to fist bump the air but deciding against it. "Dad, look!"

His dad chuckled. "I can see that. Keep going son!"

"Don't let go!"

"I won't! Just keep going!"

Johnny grinned as he continued to ride the bike, even going as far as to let out a few whoops. He was having so much fun that he didn't realize that his father's grip was loosening gradually as the bike sped up - it was only when the man's hands disappeared completely that he realized. "DAD!"

"You're doing it, Johnny!" His father yelled, watching his son proudly. "You're doing so good!"

Johnny could feel his heart rate pick up, and he gripped the handles tightly. "Okay...okay..." He breathed. _You're riding a bike on your own...oh my God, I did it!_ He looked around the neighbourhood, keeping up with his pedalling. He'd seen his brothers and all the older kids riding their big bikes; they'd told him that because he couldn't ride without training wheels he was a baby, and he couldn't play with them. Well, now he could!

"Johnny! Watch where you're-!"

He didn't hear the rest of his dad's warning; he'd hit a parked car. Johnny went flying off the bike and over to the side of the car on the floor. He felt dizzy and achy as he sat up, rubbing various places on his body in discomfort.

"Jesus!" His father seemed to appear from nowhere and scooped him into his arms. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

Johnny blinked up at his dad - slowly, he started to grin excitedly. "Can I do that again?"

* * *

The first time Mavis went outside to fly and hunt as a bat was nerve-wracking.

She'd learnt to fly around various rooms in the hotel a while ago, and had even started to practice zipping around the corridors like her Daddy did. But outside was an entirely different story - if she fell while in the hotel it wasn't too bad because it wasn't a very big drop. If she fell while in the air outside, however, it could have been well over a hundred feet.

"Are you ready, mouse?" Her father asked in his bat form. She let out a squeak, and he laughed. "Don't worry - if you fall, I will catch you, remember?"

That was true. She gave a nervous nod and changed into her bat form, settling next to him on the window ledge.

"Ready?" Her father asked.

Mavis took a deep breath and gave a nod. "Ready."

Dracula pushed off and started to fly through the air; he stopped after a few seconds, so that he could watch his daughter _just in case_. Mavis shut her eyes, bent her legs, and pushed off, trying to imagine she was inside her room instead. "See? No problem, my little ghoul!"

She opened her eyes and saw he was right; she giggled and flew over to her father eagerly. "Where are we going now, Daddy?"

"We're going to catch some scorpions," He told her, starting to fly towards the forest. Mavis let out a "yum", causing the adult vampire to chuckle slightly. "Now Mavey, stay close to me - we'll go slow because it's your first time."

Flying outside was completely different to the hotel in so many ways; outside, she had so much more room to spread her wings and fly without fear of knocking into a wall or object. The air was different too - the night air was cold underneath the little bat's wings and in her fur, making her feel more free and excited. There was also that fear of her wings suddenly failing her, causing her to drop deep into the forest, but she pushed that to the back of her mind so that she could focus on the more positive feelings she was experiencing.

Dracula took his daughter a little way away from the hotel - not too far, since they could still see it in the distance - and down to a small burrow made up of logs and fallen trees where he knew a large amount of scorpions to live. He landed a couple of meters, not quite ready to alert them of their presence. His daughter landed next to him, a little shakily because of the adrenaline running through her body, and waited for him to do something. "We will hunt the ones underneath that log," He whispered quietly. "Be careful if you try to catch one - it may sting you. Here, watch me."

Mavis watched her father tense up, red eyes fixed on the log pile. Then, quick as a flash, he had zoomed in and snatched one up in his mouth; he sunk his fangs into the scorpion's body, carefully avoiding the tail. The creature squirmed angrily for a moment, clinging to its' life desperately - however, it lost the struggled and stopped moving. Dracula flew back to his daughter, who was watching with wide eyes.

"Are you okay?" He asked quickly, slightly muffled because of what was in his teeth, as he landed next to her.

She gave a nod. "What do I do if one stings me? Or pinches me?"

Dracula spat the scorpion onto the log between the two before talking. "If you bite them quickly, then they won't get the chance, my little one. And even if they do, they will not hurt you that much." He put a wing around her. "Do you not want to hunt yet?"

Mavis shook her head quickly. "No...I mean yes...I mean...I want to do it."

He laughed slightly. "Alright. Daddy will watch you and help if you have any trouble. Go on."

Mavis took a deep breath and looked at the ground around the log - she could see one crawling around. It looked like a safe bet because it was on its' own, so she decided to target that one. She bent her legs, pushed off, and flew towards it. Not pausing in her flying, she managed to scoop it into her mouth.

Now was the tricky part.

It didn't want to give up; it's claws started to fly around, narrowly missing the little bat's ear, and it's stinger was moving around, trying to hit her. "Bite it!" She heard her father shout encouragingly. She shut her eyes and sunk her teeth into the warm body in her mouth - immediately, the scorpion started to grow weaker, its' movements slowing down as it started to lose the battle.

And then it stopped moving completely.

Mavis felt her heart swell with pride; she flew back to her father, who was cheering her on and laughing. "I did it I did it!" She shouted, spitting out the scorpion next to the one her father had caught. "Daddy, did you see me? I did it, and he didn't sting me or anything!"

"I saw you," Dracula said, flying up to nuzzle her head affectionately. "I'm very proud of you, my little ghoul. You are becoming a very good little vampire!"

"Can we do it again?" Mavis asked excitedly.

The father bat laughed and nodded. The two set off for the logs, ready to catch some dinner.

* * *

The first time Johnny and Mavis saw each other they felt something - a zing. Of course, neither of them really knew that this was what it was at first - nevertheless, they could tell that it was something special.

Mavis' first thought when that broomstick hit her and knocked her to the floor was, _Ugh...my head!_ _._ This was quickly followed by a quick " _who just hit me?_ ", and she looked up while rubbing her head to see.

All thoughts flew from her head when she saw Johnny. He'd been in his Johnny-stein costume, his skin painted blue and his untidy hair forced upwards stiffly with hairspray. But she didn't really notice it - all she saw was _those_ eyes staring at her in awe...she'd never seen anyone wish such nice eyes before in her life, and she felt her breath catch in her throat.

Meanwhile, Johnny was having a similar experience; he looked up, ready to apologise to whoever he'd hit, and felt as if the world had stopped spinning, for there was one of the most - no, _the_ most - beautiful girl he'd ever seen in his life. He couldn't help it - he stared at her, feeling his heart skip a beat in his chest.

It felt like both the shortest moment and the longest of their lives - it ended much too soon, yet seemed to last a lifetime. Dracula had flown in-between them suddenly, stopping all of the gazing they'd been doing and bringing them back to the real world.

It was only a moment of something special - but it opened up and lead them to a life of special things.

* * *

The first time Mavis saw a sun rise had been because of Johnny.

They'd been on the roof, just talking about all the different places Johnny had gone. And then, suddenly, Mavis felt a hot pain in her foot, and she realized that the sun was coming up.

_You've probably never even seen a sunrise before._

_No, not really._

Johnny had thought for a moment, looking around the rooftop; he grinned and had grabbed her hand. He'd pulled her so that they were standing behind a chimney, away from the sun's rays of light. Mavis looked out at the sky like Johnny had been doing, and gasped.

It had been... _incredible_. There was no other way to put it; she'd never seen the sky such a beautiful mix of colours before, and she'd certainly never been able to see the way the sun rose over the mountains in the distance, casting light over the once dark lands.

Later, she would compare that sunrise to Johnny himself; Johnny had brought a fun side to her previously dull life, shown her new things and just made her life brighter in every way.

* * *

The first time they kissed hadn't exactly been perfect.

It had started out as perfect, though; they'd been dancing at Mavis' birthday party, the music and lights pumping through the crowd and giving everyone adrenaline. To be honest, neither of them were particularly great dancers (Hell, Johnny's was plain awful), but it didn't seem to matter because they were having so much fun together. And that was when Mavis felt it - she'd seen him help to plan this party so it was fun, seen his little touches that showed her about the various places, and was now watching him dance goofily.

She stopped dancing and stared up at him with the biggest smile on her face.

When Johnny noticed, he stopped dancing too; his mouth fell open slightly at how beautiful she looked underneath the strobe lights, how large her eyes were, how her lashes were long and fluttered slightly when she blinked innocently at him.

Mavis took a step towards him, and he suddenly realized what she was going to do - he remembered Dracula's warning, and carefully tried to back away. "Mavis? I am crazily scared right now..."

She leaned in, closing her eyes. "Maybe that's a good thing..." And then she'd kissed him.

Johnny had kissed girls before, although that was only as far as he'd gotten since he didn't have time to form bonds with any girls. However, nothing could have compared to how he felt when the vampire gently pressed her lips to his; he felt a zing race through his body, his heart pumping blood through his veins at a rapid pace. It took all he had not to kiss her back - it killed him inside to not kiss back, but he wasn't prepared to have the blood sucked out of him just yet.

That, and he was sort of in shock right then.

And then Dracula, of all people, had seen it; he'd flown through the crowd angrily, eyes red, and separated them before snarling at the human, who tried to protest. Luckily, Mavis had intervened before any blood-sucking could commence, and the attention was taken off of Johnny.

Well. That was until Quasimodo came in - everything went to Hell.

The doors to his escape had slammed shut, thanks to Esmeralda, the rat that the chef carried around with him. One of the flies who worked at the Hotel translated what Quasimodo's muffled accusations were. To his surprise, people started to question the chef disbelievingly. For a moment, Johnny thought he was going to get off easily without too much trouble.

But then the freaking rat jumped on him, smearing his make-up and messing up his hair.

_Beholds a human._

Mavis couldn't believe it - she'd just been kissing a human. All her life she'd been told that humans were nasty and not to be trusted - and yet, Johnny seemed nice and definitely someone you could trust. As the guests at the party started to panic, running around and yelling, she found herself standing on the spot and staring at Johnny; he stared back at her, looking truly sorry and hurt. "Is it true?" She asked shakily, taking a few steps forward. "Are you a human?"

Johnny sighed. "Yes...I'm so sorry..."

And in that moment, she realized that she didn't care - if he had wanted to hurt her or any of the other monsters, he would have done it by then. This was the guy who had showed her a first sun rise, the man who had helped throw together this fantastic party - and she realized that she _loved_ him.

She threw herself forwards, latching her arms around his neck. "I don't care," She told him lovingly. "I still wanna be with you."

For a moment, she thought that he felt the same - that maybe he'd hug her back and say something similar back. She was sure that he had to feel the same way, and that they'd work this out together.

_Well...TOUGH...because I DON'T want to be with you, because...you're a monster, and I hate monsters. Goodbye!_

When she'd hugged him, he had let out a small sigh of relief; for a moment, he imagined them being together, as if it could happen.

But then he'd seen Dracula's face over Mavis' shoulder, and he knew what he had to do.

Honestly, the words killed him to say because he didn't mean any of it - he didn't want to leave Mavis, not when he knew there was something special going on between them. But he couldn't hurt her or Dracula - Dracula was her father, and he was supposed to know what was best for his daughter, even if it meant upsetting both of them in the process.

With a heavy heart, Johnny had stormed out, cleaned his face and removed the olive green coat he'd been wearing. He found his backpack and left, head bowed downwards at the sudden hole in his heart.

* * *

The kiss that the couple counted as their first kiss was a lot more successful.

After Dracula had left the room, the two had turned back to each other with large smiles on their faces and leaned in for it - there wasn't a lot of talking to be done at this point, so it was mainly about perfecting this kiss.

Mavis' lips had been soft. Johnny couldn't help but lean into it even more, putting an arm around her to bring her closer; he felt sparks fly between them, and he felt uncontrollably happy, more so than he ever had in his life.

As they pulled away, Mavis giggled slightly. He raised an eyebrow, though slightly worried - he wasn't that bad a kisser, was he? "What?"

She peered at him through long, thick eyelashes and gave him a radiant smile. "I was just thinking...it's still as good as I remember."

* * *

The first trip together had been, of course, to Hawaii.

Johnny yawned as the plane started its journey, using the old "arm around the girl" trick. Mavis, who seemed unaware of this, just snuggled closer into his side contentedly. "How long is it going to be?" She asked excitedly.

Johnny shrugged slightly. "Probably the whole day...it'll be worth it, though."

Back when he'd been a lone traveller, Johnny would listen to music, sleep, or watch a movie to pass the time. It wasn't too bad, he'd decided, if you got used to it. But with Mavis...it got a lot more fun. For most the time he was awake, she asked him various questions about Hawaii (still mispronouncing it as "Haweewee", which he found adorable) and about the different activities they'd be able to do during the night time.

"The most fun ones are at night," He assured her, knowing she was probably feeling guilty about them not being able to go out during the day. "They have music festivals that go on all through the night and into the next morning - that's practically every music festival, though...I'm pretty sure all of the beaches are open at night too, so we could go swimming...Oh! And the fireworks!"

"I can't wait," Mavis said in awe, looking at him in amazement. "I mean, it's where my Mom and Dad met...from what I've heard, it's no wonder they zinged..."

When they'd actually arrived there, the sky had, luckily, gone dark. Mavis laughed as she looked around at the palm trees in the distance while they went into the airport to get their luggage - she'd never seen anything quite like it. Even the postcard she had seemed to pale in comparison to the real thing, and she was suddenly glad she'd gotten the chance to see it.

"I think our hotel's just down the road," Johnny started saying, taking her hand in his once they'd found their bags. "We shouldn't need to get a taxi or anything..."

"Do we have to go to the hotel?" Mavis asked, pouting slightly. "I want to start seeing things as soon as I can."

"We will," Johnny assured her, laughing slightly at her eagerness. "We'll just take the bags to the hotel, put them in our rooms, and we'll go out to the beach or something...just for tonight, since I'm kinda tired."

Maybe it was because she was a vampire, and she was used to staying up during the night and sleeping all through the day, but Mavis didn't feel tired at all (although, having said that, she did feel just a little jet-lagged). However, she knew that her boyfriend, who wasn't quite used to her sleeping patterns yet, was probably be quite exhausted, even if he didn't show it, so she just smiled and said, "Alright."

Because it was their first trip together, they'd decided to share a room but have separate beds - as close as they'd gotten recently, neither one of them felt completely sure about sharing a bed quite yet. They knew that they'd feel more comfortable with it in the future, but for now they were going to take it slow - Mavis was a vampire, who probably had hundreds of years left. As for Johnny...well, he wasn't exactly an old or unhealthy human, so they still had plenty of time to think about what they could do.

The first thing Mavis saw when they opened the door to their hotel room was the sea from outside the window; with vampire speed she was across the room in a second and looking out of the window in amazement. Johnny put his backpack down in the corner of the room and shut the door behind him. "Haven't you ever seen an ocean before?"

She shook her head. "No. There wasn't one near the hotel."

Johnny appeared behind her, looking out over her shoulder. "So you've never surfed then, right?"

Mavis turned to him, wrinkling her nose up in confusion. "Surfed?"

"Oh, you know...you get a surfboard, and then you go out into the waves while standing on it," He explained while she just looked at him in fascination. "You're meant to surf these waves...like, they're huge, and they sort of curve." He gestured with his hands to show her, looking rather silly.

Mavis giggled slightly at his miming. "So have _you_ ever surfed?"

"I've tried," He muttered, going a little red. "It's not the easiest thing - though last time I was here, I managed to ride out a whole wave before I fell off my board."

"Could you teach me?"

Johnny grinned and shrugged. "Sure - just don't laugh at me if I fall off my board."

* * *

The first time hadn't exactly been planned.

Mavis and Johnny had been visiting Hawaii again - it had been about a year since they'd first started travelling, and the two had decided to revisit Hawaii because of its' beautiful beaches and large range of activities. Johnny had also found out, thanks to his phone, that because it was Summer there would be a range of music festivals being hosted there - something that both of them loved - so they'd made the decision to visit Hawaii again.

That night, they were at a festival - quite a few of their favourite bands and artists were playing that night, making it even better - and they'd spent all night dancing and partying together in the crowd - they even spoke briefly to another tourist and his wife (both of whom smiled at the couple, remembering a time when they were like that) about some of the other activities they'd done.

There was nothing particularly new about their behaviour that night; they had their arms around each other the entire night, just like always, and they'd often pause in their dancing to share a kiss or talk to each other. They still sung along to all the songs they knew (Johnny serenading his girlfriend at one point very loudly and causing her to giggle wildly when some people turned to stare), and they still had a large amount of fun together.

Unfortunately, the sun came up quite early the next morning because it was Summer, so the couple had to push through the crowd to get back to their hotel room before Mavis ended up burnt; they were both tired anyway, so they weren't too sad about having to leave the party early.

"That was amazing!" Mavis sighed as she laid back on the hotel bed, spreading her arms out and yawning slightly.

She felt the bed dip slightly as Johnny flopped down tiredly. "I know. I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing so many fireworks to the sound of music..." He cracked an eye open and looked at her. "You tired?"

Mavis shrugged a little. "I guess...I feel tired but alive at the same time, like I have too much energy. You?"

"Yeah, me too," The human agreed. He rolled onto his side and scooped the vampire up into his arms tightly; he couldn't help but inhale her intoxicating scent, making him feel at home immediately. "I love you."

"I love you too."

They nuzzled noses before leaning in to kiss each other; there wasn't anything strange about this kiss either. They wrapped their arms around each other after a few seconds, trying to bring themselves impossibly closer together; the kiss started to deepen, lips sliding together in passion as jolts ran through their bodies.

Johnny rolled on top of Mavis, somewhat nervously - they'd never been in this position before. Mavis didn't seem to mind, however, instead letting out a small groan and reaching to grab the front of his shirt; she pulled him closer, so that they were touching chest-to-chest. She'd never felt anything quite like this in her entire life - but she liked it. _A lot_.

Johnny, who'd had little more experience than his girlfriend, hadn't felt like this before either; sure, the girls he'd kissed during his travels were nice to kiss, but it was definitely nothing compared to _this_. Every part of his body felt as if it were on fire; his heart was pounding against his ribcage in an almost violent way, his head spinning, and...

And his usually baggy shorts had suddenly grown a lot tighter.

Letting out a small gasp, he pulled himself off his girlfriend quickly - so quickly that he went backwards and fell off the bed. Mavis sat up, her body tingling, and peered at her boyfriend. "Are you okay?" She asked, and she realized she was out of breath.

"Yeah!" He answered, voice high all of a sudden. He scrambled off of the floor and back onto the bed, sitting opposite her and crossing his legs to hide his...little problem. "I just...wow."

Mavis nodded. "I know...why did you stop?"

"I...uh...I guess I just..." Johnny stammered - he wasn't about to tell his girlfriend what had happened just then. It wasn't like it was the first time that had happened, but he'd managed to keep it under control by thinking of gross stuff (mainly the food that monsters ate at the hotel).

Nothing was working this time though.

Surprisingly, Mavis looked away looking rather embarrassed. "Is it because we were moving too fast? I'm really sorry, I don't know what came over me..."

"No, no!" Johnny said quickly, putting his hands on her shoulders so that she looked up at him. "I mean...I guess that's...maybe why I stopped..." He coughed awkwardly. "I don't...you know, wanna make you uncomfortable or anything."

Mavis gave him a smile. "Oh, Johnny...of course I wasn't uncomfortable." She looked up at him with large eyes. "Could we...you know, try that again?"

"Uhh...sure." Johnny moved forwards so that his and Mavis' lips were joined again; he realized that she wasn't holding back at all when he felt her tongue tentatively enter his mouth. Before then, the human had always found the concept of "tonguing" gross and not something he'd wish to do - now he wanted more of it.

Mavis, meanwhile, truthfully had no idea what she was doing; she remembered reading about some of these things in one of the fiction books back at the hotel library, and she was aware (thanks to Johnny) that there was a popular series of books about... _that_. However, she wasn't a hundred percent sure that she was doing it completely right, and could only go on what Johnny did in reaction. She'd never had sex before, obviously. She knew what it was (she'd done her own research after having very mixed up talks from her father and the her Aunt Eunice), but that didn't make her feel anymore prepared for it when she thought about it.

But then she was with Johnny - she trusted him completely, knowing that he'd never do anything to hurt her. She loved him and he loved her; she wanted to experience everything on Earth with him, even this.

Especially this.

"Johnny," She murmured against his mouth, gripping his t-shirt in her hands. "I...I'm ready."

Johnny's half-lidded eyes snapped open, and he moved his head back slightly. "Wait, what?"

She nodded and gave him a small smile. "Whenever you want to, I'm ready."

There was a long moment of silence between them where they just stared at each other; Johnny studied Mavis' face, looking for any signs that she was nervous or lying. He didn't find any. Slowly, he started to nod and gulped loudly. "Okay...now?"

"If you want to," She replied.

He did want to; Johnny moved closer, feeling as though he had butterflies fluttering in his stomach for real, and started to kiss her again. Although he wanted to go back to their previous amount of passion and excitement, he also wanted to take this slow; it was their first time, and it had to be special. He could feel his heartbeat pounding in his ears as he cautiously laid her down on the bed, the only other sound being the clashing of their lips.

"Is it good?" Mavis asked breathily when he pulled away for air. "You know...when it happens? What's it like?"

Johnny blinked, brain not working properly. It took a moment, but he eventually registered what she'd just asked him and blushed as red as his hair. "Uhh...actually...I don't know."

Mavis blinked in confusion. "What do you mean you don't know? Haven't you...?"

"No," He admitted, shuffling on the spot nervously. "I never really found the right girl, before now." Although he was a guy, and he had his needs, he wasn't about to go sleeping with someone who he didn't care about.

Mavis seemed to understand and lifted her head to kiss him softly on the lips. "We'll go slow, right?" She asked. Suddenly, she felt just a touch nervous - but it was an excited kind of nervous.

Johnny smiled, placing his hands on the duvet beneath them. "We'll go slow."

It was a strange but welcome experience for both of them. Neither of them lead it too much - it was more building up to it, and finding out what they each liked. They gradually undressed each other, the clothes being tossed carelessly onto the floor, and just took in each other for a couple of moments with shy smiles. There, admittedly, was the awkward question of protection (neither of them felt that Dracula wanted a grandchild just yet), but that was quickly solved when Johnny remembered (going very red as he did) that one of his older brothers (probably James) had left a few condoms in one of the pockets of his backpack, _just in case_.

 _At least I don't have to kill him now,_ Johnny had thought before returning to business. _Wait...are they still okay to...oh, yeah. Until a couple of months._

When they had finished their activities, they lay together underneath the duvet while wrapped around each other. They were both breathing heavily, foreheads close and fingers clasped tightly together in an intimate position. Johnny opened his eyes after a few seconds of recovering, looking at Mavis with nothing but love in his eyes. She looked like an angel, with her hair messy, eyes hooded slightly and lips pursed open so she could breathe. He unlocked one of his hands from hers, reaching to brush her bangs out of her face, the movement causing her to open her eyes too.

"Are you alright?" He asked hoarsely, remembering that girls felt pain during the first time.

She nodded, her now free hand trailing upwards to rest on his hot cheek. "Are _you_ okay?"

"I'm perfect," Johnny muttered, grinning down at her. "I love you so much."

Mavis burrowed her head into his chest. "I really love you too."

* * *

The first big fight had been over changing Johnny into a vampire.

Johnny, who knew he was getting older and older each day that passed, wanted to be changed; he wanted to be with Mavis for as long as possible, and the only way to guarantee he didn't die long before her was to change him.

Mavis disagreed - as much as it pained her to think about Johnny dying in less than a hundred years, she couldn't change him. After all, he had a family out there; a mother and father who had helped raise him and loved him, and six brothers who he had relied on and had relied on him. If Johnny turned into a vampire, he wouldn't be able to see them as much as he used to; he wouldn't be able to go out in the Sun anymore, or see himself in the mirror.

"Why can't you just change me?" Johnny complained, watching her pace angrily in her (or rather their) room. "The longer you put it off, the more I'm going to age and get closer to dying."

"I'm not changing you!" Mavis snapped, stopping and turning to face him from across the room. "Why can't you just accept that it's not an option?"

"But it is an option!" Johnny shouted, starting to lose his mind over it. "In fact, it's the only option, unless you want to watch me shrivel up and die."

Mavis gave an annoyed sigh. "Don't say that! You don't seem to understand what would happen if you changed, do you? You wouldn't be able to live your life properly - you'd never be able to see your family again. Or, even worse, you'd have to watch them all die before you." She shook her head. "No. I'm not doing that to you."

"Well, I'm not letting you watch me die!" The human retorted. "Do you not realize how much it would hurt you? I mean, when I left this hotel after that party thinking I'd never see you again, I _was_ in pain! I felt like I'd never be able to live my life properly again!" He took a deep breath to try and calm himself down before continuing. "Look at your dad, May...he would give anything to have your Mom back. Look at how unhappy he was after losing his zing - I'm not doing that to you."

Mavis gave a small growl in annoyance. "Do you think I don't know that? Do you think I want to lose you? Because I don't! But I'm not ruining your life just so that I can keep you to myself - it's not fair on you or your family!" She swiftly turned around to start pacing again. "Just leave it, Johnny."

Johnny folded his arms grumpily. "I'd make a totally great vampire," He muttered mutinously as he perched on the end of the bed. "I'd be able to hypnotise people, and fly as a bat-"

"THAT'S NOT WHY YOU SHOULD WANT TO BECOME A VAMPIRE!" Mavis yelled, spinning back around; her eyes glowed red dangerously. "Becoming a vampire is not a thing you can reverse - if you changed, there'd be no going back. You'd be stuck like that forever!"

"I know that!" Johnny shot back loudly, rolling his eyes slightly; he wasn't intelligent but he wasn't stupid either. "And I don't care! I want to be a vampire, so I can be with you, not just because of some cool powers that come with it!"

"Well, I'm not changing you!"

"Fine! I'll just ask your dad!"

There was a long silence in the room as the two stared at each other. Suddenly, Mavis transformed into her bat form and flew out the window - as she flew, Johnny could hear the sound of her cries echoing outside.

Heart sinking, he pushed himself off of the bed and stormed over to the door; when he opened it, however, he found that his and Mavis' argument hadn't exactly been a secret. "Drac?"

The elder vampire blinked before giving him a nervous smile. "Jonathan, I was just...I heard shouting...and I worried..." He cleared his throat and straightened up. "Is Mavis alright? Where is she?"

Johnny rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Uhh...she flew out the window."

He was totally prepared for the Count to start snarling and ripping him to pieces; instead, much to his surprise and amazement, Dracula just sighed. "I thought so." He looked at the human seriously. "She's really upset and confused about this matter."

"Yeah, well...wait!" Johnny stared at him. "Has she talked to you about this?"

Dracula nodded. "Yes. Several times since you both arrived here." He gestured to Mavis' room. "Maybe we should continue this conversation somewhere more private?"

Johnny nodded, stepping back into his girlfriend's room with the older vampire following. "So...what did she say?" He asked as he shut the door behind the Count.

Dracula rubbed a hand over his face. "She's very upset, Johnny; she loves you, obviously, and is aware of how short your life is compared to hers." He quickly stole a look outside of the window, as if checking she wasn't listening in on the conversation. The coast seemed clear, since he continued a second later. "Look...she's not completely against the idea of changing you."

"She's not?"

"No," Dracula admitted, sighing again as if he was tired. "It's the only solution that would work. However, Mavis feels guilty about asking you to just 'give up' your human life...your family and such."

"Oh, yeah," Johnny nodded, remembering that she'd mentioned this. "She said she didn't want me to have to watch everyone I love die."

Dracula just turned to look out of the window. "It is a lot to ask of you, Johnny, I know. I wouldn't be able to make such a decision voluntarily, and I wish you didn't have to...However," He turned his head to the side to look at the human. "If this is what you truly want, then everything will work itself out - Mavis will come around eventually."

Meanwhile, Mavis had flown into the forest - on the roof, there was the risk of Johnny or her father finding her, so she'd decided to perch on a tree and think while in her bat form. Right now, she wanted some time alone to think.

She loved Johnny, of course she did. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, experiencing all she could - no matter what it cost. That was the problem - she didn't have to give up anything, but her boyfriend had to. It seemed unfair that he had to drop his human life just so that he could be with her; it would be like he was abandoning a vital part of himself just for her, which she didn't want at all.

 _Oh, mom...what should I do?_ She thought, trying to direct it at the night sky above. Of course, she got no obvious answer, and was left pondering by herself.

And then she remembered her mother's special birthday gift to her, and the advice within it: _A zing only happens once in your life...Cherish it._

Mavis couldn't - no, wouldn't - let Johnny go; she couldn't watch him age and die so soon. It may have seemed selfish, but she knew she would have to do whatever it took to spend all of her time with him, even changing him.

Feeling a lot more sure now, she took off again and headed back for the hotel; she needed to talk to Johnny about this properly.

_Thanks Mom._

* * *

The first time they held their child had been a happy one.

Johnny and Mavis had been preparing to get some rest as the sun started to rise when Mavis felt it; a contraction. Another one hit her, and there was no mistaking it: their baby was on their way. "Get me Auntie Eunice and Auntie Wanda," Mavis gasped quickly to her husband. "You know where they're rooms are!"

Johnny, whose eyes had become the size of saucers within three seconds, gave a nervous nod and scrambled out of the room clumsily; despite all his hoping, it seemed gracefulness was not a power he'd inherited as a vampire. It was only when he'd left the room it seemed to hit him properly.

_Holy crap, I'm gonna be a dad._

Since Mavis had gone into her final month of pregnancy, all of her Uncles and Aunts had arranged to stay at the hotel for the entire month - seeing Mavis have her own child was kind of an emotional thing to them all because they'd seen her grow up from babyhood to adulthood, and they couldn't miss it.

Johnny decided to head to Wayne and Wanda's room first; after all, Wanda had had enough pups to know what to do. He knocked on the door loudly, willing for them in his head to hurry up. _I wonder if I could manipulate them through the door..._ He didn't have any time to test that theory though since Wayne opened the room door looking rather irritated and tired in his pajamas. "Oh," Johnny managed, nerves coming back to him as he remembered why he was there. "I...Wanda...Mavis...the baby..."

Despite his tiredness, Wayne understood immediately ( _Probably because he's had so many kids,_ Johnny thought) and called for his wife. "Wanda! It's Johnny! I think the baby's on the way!"

There was a loud crash, presumably caused by some of the kids, and Wanda appeared in the doorway next to Wayne, wearing a nightdress. "She's having the baby now?" She asked quickly.

Johnny nodded quickly. "Yeah...she needs help...She asked for you."

Wanda was already heading out of the door to go to Mavis' room, calling over her shoulder to her husband, "Make sure they don't break anything!".

Wayne rolled his eyes slightly - there was no way he could do that, not with how many kids they had. Just as Johnny started to head down the corridor again, the wolf stopped him. "Johnny," He coughed, looking serious for a moment; then he offered the vampire a wolfy grin. "Congratulations!"

Johnny smiled weakly. "Thanks, dude."

"You'll keep us all updated, won't you?"

"Yeah...I've got to go..."

As it turned out, Frank and Eunice weren't in their room when Johnny looked. Not wanting to miss too much of what was going on because he was looking for them, Johnny found one of the castle guards and tapped on the helmet nervously.

"Yes, sir?" The suit asked, somewhat cautiously when he realized it was Johnny.

"Uhh...would you be able to get a message to some of my friends?" Johnny asked awkwardly. "Frank and Eunice...you know, they're, like, flesh golems or whatever..."

There was a second's silence before the suit nodded. "What is the message?"

"Tell them Mavis went into labour, and she wants them upstairs."

"On it, sir." Satisfied, the young vampire turned around, only to hear the suit say rather cheerily, "Congratulations, even if I do say so myself."

"Uh...gee, thanks."

It seemed weird, Johnny decided as he rushed down the corridor, that everyone knew about his and Mavis' baby - it hadn't escaped their notice that in the last few months various monster magazines had taken to debating the gender and possible names of the baby. At first he'd found it kind of funny and amusing - but when he couldn't read a single magazine in the hotel without seeing something about speculations for their baby, he quickly discovered why Mavis was so annoyed.

_Crap, I need to tell Drac...I've already missed a lot...wait a minute...I can turn into a bat. Duh!_

He morphed into his bat form, flying somewhat dizzily around the corridors and stairways towards the Count's bedroom. Dracula, though surprised and shocked at first, had soon taken to the idea of another baby vampire to look after (even if he was only helping his daughter and son-in-law) and seemed quite happy with the idea of his first grandchild.

Johnny quickly morphed back into a vampire and knocked on the Count's bedroom door loudly. When there was a whole ten seconds and no response, Johnny decided to resort to drastic methods; he started to bang his fists on the door, yelling out, "DRAC! OPEN THE DOOR! COME ON, MAN!"

It worked. Within seconds the door had swung open, Johnny nearly falling forwards as it did, and he now found himself face-to-face with the older vampire, who looked rather annoyed - while he wasn't in pyjamas or anything, it was obvious he was tired and wanted to go to bed. "What is it, Jonathan? Can't you see I want to-?"

"Mavis is having the baby!" Johnny blurted loudly, and Dracula's frown disappeared. "Drac, I'm totally freaking out! Oh my God, Drac, I'm having a kid, I can't do this-"

"Stop babbling," Dracula muttered half-heartedly, morphing into a bat and starting to fly away already. "Are you just going to stand there or are you actually going to be there when your child arrives?"

Snapping out of it, the red-head morphed back into his bat form and followed after his father-in-law quickly. "I can't help it!" He blurted once he'd caught up with Dracula. "I mean...it's a baby!"

Dracula gave a small chuckle as he flew up a staircase - they couldn't use the windows because of the Sun. "Yes, I felt the same when Martha went into labour. Being a father is scary."

"No kidding," Johnny mumbled.

"But it's worth it," The elder vampire said softly, looking over his shoulder briefly. "Trust me on this one."

There was no more talking as they flew up the stairs and out onto the corridor where Mavis' room was. Not bothering to knock or wait for his son-in-law, the Count morphed back into his vampire form and opened the door.

When he entered, he immediately wished he hadn't.

"Dad!" Mavis gasped out, lurching forwards on the bed, only to get held back by Wanda. "What are you doing in here?"

Dracula blinked as Johnny morphed behind him, panting harshly from the quick flight. "It's-"

"But you don't have to be in here!" She moaned in embarrassment. "Can't you wait outside or something?"

After a moment's silence, Dracula nodded slowly. "Of course...maybe it's best..." He walked into the room, Johnny shuffling in behind him, and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "If you need me, I'll be right outside, Mavy. I promise."

Mavis gave him a small smile. "Thanks, Dad...Look, I really love you, but _please_ get out."

"Johnny," Wanda ushered as Dracula walked over to the door and left the room, gesturing for him to come closer. "You can help by holding her hand and talking to her...I'm just going to check how we're doing."

As Wanda moved to check the dilation, Johnny practically flew across the room to his wife. "Right, yeah, of course, right..." He grabbed her hand firmly, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. "I'm right here, Mavy, see?"

"I'm in labour, not blind," Mavis gritted out, shutting her eyes tightly. "Why does this hurt so bad?"

Johnny opened his mouth, only to be cut off by Wanda shaking her head as she stood up again.

It seemed to be hours before anything remotely good happened; Mavis found herself mortified at the fact that someone she considered to be her Aunt had to check... _down there_...and the pain the contractions were giving her didn't help matters. Eunice joined them a while after her father had left, loudly giving assurances to the vampire as she sat down next to her and squeezed her tightly.

After about an hour or so of painful contractions, Wanda finally smiled and nodded. "Now?" Mavis asked, not quite sure whether to believe it. Wanda nodded.

Once she started pushing, however, she started to wish she didn't have to.

"HOLY RABIES!" She screamed, squeezing both Eunice and Johnny's hand tightly in her own. "I've changed my mind! I can't do this!"

Johnny winced slightly; even though he was a vampire now, her grip was still very strong on his hand. "Yeah you can!" He encouraged uselessly, not exactly sure what he was meant to say. "Uhh...come on, just keep pushing...?"

Whatever he was meant to say, it was not this: Mavis' head snapped around to glare at him. "This is all your fault!" She cried out, gritting her teeth as she continued to push. "I swear, you are never ever touching me again after this is over!"

"Is that all you could say?" Eunice asked disapprovingly in her usual loud voice. "Really?"

Wanda seemed unfazed by their arguing as she kept an eye on the baby's progress - she'd said all of these things before many times. "I think the baby's head is starting to come out...Johnny, we need towels."

Johnny looked between the female wolf and his wife. "But..Mavis..."

"She'll be okay for two seconds - Eunice can manage fine with helping her." Wanda assured him quickly. "Come on, before the baby gets here!"

Mavis reluctantly let go of her husband's hand, instead gripping the sheet on the bed she was lying on. "How much longer is this gonna last?" She managed, squeezing her eyes shut in pain and digging her nails into Eunice's skin.

"Not long," Wanda promised as Johnny returned from the bathroom with the needed towels. "I can see the head..."

"Uhh...can you see any hair?" Johnny asked, quickly thinking of a way to distract Mavis.

Wanda just nodded, getting the towels ready. Despite the pain, Mavis found herself curious. "Can...Can you tell if it's red or black yet?"

"No...too damp right now to say..."

Eunice hummed slightly as she thought about somthing. "I remember when the doctor made me - my hair was awful, I'm telling ya. The style was definitely _not_ 'in'..."

The conversation was cut off abruptly by Mavis screaming out, her hand jolting outwards and grabbing Johnny's shirt tightly. The other vampire, quickly grabbed her hand in his, squeezing tightly and muttering nonsense to try and distract her.

True to Wanda's word, it was only another couple of minutes until the screams of a newborn baby sounded in the room and outside in the corridor.

Outside in said corridor, Dracula had been standing with Frank, Wayne, Murray and Griffin - he desperately wanted to be inside there with his baby girl, to try and stop her from screaming; he would have done just that if his friends had stopped him immediately.

"Of course she's in pain," Griffin commented, probably rolling his eyes slightly at his friend. "It's a baby."

"I'm sure Martha was like this when she had Mavis," Wayne commented, scratching his ear a little; he'd left his eldest children in charge of the younger ones by the pool. Whether the pups stayed behaved was an entirely different matter, but right now he had to be there for his friend. "I mean, Wanda wasn't too different - the screaming and pain goes away once the baby comes."

"She's a Dracula," Frank continued assuringly. "She'll be able to get control over it soon."

"Besides," Murray finished, putting a sandy arm around the Count. "She's got Johnny, right?"

Dracula pushed the mummy's arm off of him with an unpleasant look on his face. "I know - that is what I'm worried about."

There was no more time for assurances, because Mavis could be heard letting out one last cry - this cry was then replaced immediately by the sound of a newborn crying loudly as it entered the world. Dracula shot upwards, eyes widening as he listened. "It's...It's over..."

"Congrats, Drac!" Frank bellowed cheerfully, slapping him on the back hard and nearly sending him flying. "Hard to believe you're a Grandpa, huh?"

"Geez...that makes _me_ feel old," Griffin muttered in distaste. "Still, Congratulations buddy!"

Back in Mavis' room, the vampire had laid back on the pillows, still breathing heavily from the exertion and effort of bringing a new life into this world. "You did a great job," Johnny told her quietly as Wanda and Eunice whisked their baby to the bathroom to clean it (and probably coo over them too).

Mavis gave a weak smile as he pushed back her sweaty bangs. "No big deal."

"No big deal?" The red-head snorted. "Is that why you screamed at me throughout the entire thing?"

She scowled slightly at him - however, she didn't have long to be annoyed at him because both of her Aunts came out of the bathroom, Eunice carrying something bundled up in towels and staring at it in awe. Johnny helped Mavis sit up against the pillows properly before sitting next to her and looking at the bundle.

"She's just adorable!" Eunice commented, her voice surprisingly low.

She. Mavis and Johnny looked at each other for a second before turning back to look at Eunice. "It's a girl?" Johnny asked in awe, and the flesh golem nodded. "We have a daughter, May."

"I know. Can I hold her?" Mavis asked, nervously excited. Wanda carefully removed the baby from Eunice's arms, cradling her against her chest, and moved the rest of the way across the room to give her to Mavis.

"Make sure you support the neck," Wanda said quietly, careful not to upset the now quiet bundle. "You know how...there we go."

The new parents peered down at their daughter for the first time; she was simply beautiful. Her eyes were shut tightly as she snoozed, probably tired after her entrance into the world. Her skin was rather pale and there was hardly any flush to her cheeks, but both of them knew that to be because she was a vampire. On top of her head there was a small tuft of red hair sticking up (Johnny mentally groaned at himself for giving his child his hair), and she had two tiny fists that were balled up; one rested on her stomach, the other against her cheek.

"She's perfect," Johnny murmured, pressing a kiss to his wife's head.

Mavis nodded, reaching out a finger to gently stroke their daughter's cheek. "I think she looks like you."

"No way - except for the hair, she'll look exactly like _you._ "

Mavis just gave a small, sleepy laugh and looked at him. "Do you want to hold her?"

"Uhh..." Johnny's smile disappeared. "Well...I mean...what if I drop her?"

"You won't," Mavis told him confidently. "I'll help you...stretch your arms out like I am...you said that you've held your younger brothers before."

The red-head shrugged. "I was four and six - I can't remember that far back."

The blue-eyed vampire struggled slightly to move the slightly heavy weight in her arms; the baby snuffled a little, stretching her fingers out, but remained asleep. She placed their daughter in Johnny's arms and watched; she saw his face lighten up as he got a proper good look at their baby, his eyes brightening and mouth open in an "o" shape of astonishment.

"Hey there," He muttered quietly, so only Mavis and the baby could hear. "I'm your Daddy...Yeah," He nodded slightly, directing his words at Mavis once again but didn't take his eyes off of his daughter. "I was right - she's beautiful, just like you."

"You know," They heard someone - Wanda - say, snapping them out of the haze they'd been in with their new daughter. "She needs a name."

"Yeah," Eunice agreed, voice slightly louder now that she wasn't holding the baby but still quiet enough that it didn't wake her up. "And make sure it's stylish, you two; I am not going around saying her name if it's not a good one."

Johnny and Mavis turned back to each other, completely clueless. "I have a name," Mavis said hesitantly, training her eyes on the newborn vampire. "I've been reading those books that you got me - the ones that give you names for babies..."

"And?"

"I like Lucy," Mavis said slowly. "I remember the definition the book said: ' _as of light_ ' _..._ which is another way of saying, ' _born at dawn or daylight_ '...and it means 'of light complexion' too...I just think it fits since she was born during the day-"

"And she's pale-skinned." Johnny looked at their daughter for a second before grinning. "Lucy...I used to read these cool books with a girl named Lucy in them...I like it." He looked back at Mavis. "As long as her middle name is 'Martha', like your Mom."

"Lucy Martha?" Mavis tested out while looking at their daughter, seeing if it fit the newborn.

"It's a pretty name," Johnny stated, carefully brushing red hair out of the baby vampire's eyes. "And I think that it'd be a nice way to honour her without being too cheesy or anything."

Mavis nodded and smiled again at Lucy. "I hate to be awful, but can I hold her again?"


	7. G - Gone

Johnny had been eighteen when he'd first started his travels; college wasn't really for him, at least not yet, and he decided that he wanted to see everything and do what he loved before being forced into the real world of education and work. He was ecstatic about the trip - he'd never been away from home without someone fro his family accompanying him before, and it felt exhilarating. His brothers had been pretty supportive too, James going as far as to give him money for when he went to Europe.

However, not everyone in his family was as happy for him leaving.

"Mom...Mom, you can get off me..."

Johnny's mother just sniffed, gripping onto her son tighter. "Jonathan...are you sure you want to do this now? I mean, you have all of your life to see the world, and you've only just finished High School-"

"I'll be fine," Johnny mumbled, not looking at her as he flushed red. "There's no need to get so upset - I'll be back before you know it." He reluctantly leaned in to give her one last hug. "Look, I'll text you every night to let you know I'm safe, and I won't talk to strangers or anything..."

"He's gonna be alright, Jean," His father interjected as Johnny let go of her. "He's been planning this for years, and saving up money for years too. I think he'll be perfectly fine out there."

Johnny grinned at his father thankfully. "Thanks, Dad." The two exchanged a quick hug before Johnny turned around to shoulder his backpack. "I promise I'll come home regularly, if that's what you want...like during holidays and stuff."

"Are you sure you've got everything?" Jean asked tentatively, her arms finally loosening up around him.

Her husband snorted. "Just look at the size of his backpack - it's like he packed his entire room."

"Oh, I did," Johnny agreed cheerfully, shouldering said bag. "I didn't want the twins going through my stuff while I'm gone."

Both of his parents chuckled and laughed at this. "Well...you better get going so you don't miss your plane," His father prompted, checking his watch and yawning - Johnny's parents had to get up early so they could say goodbye to their son, so they were very tired.

"Make sure you call us once you get to the airport," His mother blurted before she could stop herself. "And then when you get off the plane you should text us-"

"I know, I know," Johnny muttered. "And then I have to text you when I get to my hotel so that you know I'm safe. I've got it, Mom."

Jean's lip wobbled slightly, but she remained composed. "Yes. Okay." She leaned forwards to give him one last hug. "Stay safe out there, hun - and just enjoy yourself, won't you?"

"Oh, believe me, I will," Johnny laughed, hugging her before pulling away. He looked at his parents for a moment, heart racing - he'd never done anything like this before in his life, and it was exhilarating. "I'm gonna go now. I'll make sure to bring back tons of souvenirs for you guys...Mom, please don't be sad."

"I'm not," His mother lied, sniffling a little. "I'm happy for you. It's all you've wanted to do for ten years, and I'm just glad that you get to do it."

Johnny smiled at her again and said a very final goodbye before leaving quickly - as much as he loved his parents, he really just wanted to get going. There was so much of the world to explore and he just wanted to get started in seeing new things as soon as possible. Sure, he'd miss his parents and brothers quite a lot since he'd never been that far from home before - but he figured he'd soon be so busy exploring and meeting all types of new people that he wouldn't feel too homesick.

He had no idea.

* * *

After the disastrous end to her birthday party, Mavis found herself on the rooftop of the hotel crying her eyes out, her mother's special birthday present tucked in her arms.

Since the human had left, she'd experienced a rollercoaster of emotions; at first, she'd been angry. She was angry that her father had lied to her; angry that she'd admitted her feelings to Johnny; angry at Johnny himself for making her believe he liked her and angry at him for lying about being a monster. However, as soon as she'd flown into her bedroom and morphed back on the bed, the feeling of anger soon dissipated when she saw the wrapped birthday gift on her bed.

Tentatively, the young vampire had picked it up and examined it - there was no mistaking who it was from. She badly wanted to open it - she'd waited for over a hundred years - and yet, it felt like such a shame to rip the pretty paper on the gift, to suddenly find out the big secret. However, she knew that her mother wanted her to have it, so she carefully started to peel off the wrapping on the present. The only sounds in the room were that of wrapping paper being carefully ripped apart and Mavis' sniffles.

After Mavis had managed to open the top of the present, she turned it upside down; a small book fell onto her lap. Putting the paper in the nearby coffin-bin, she stared at the book in curiosity and picked it up; on the front cover was the title ' _True Love, by Mom_ '. Her mother had written her a book about love. Mavis felt tears well up in her eyes when she naturally thought about Johnny after seeing the title and blinked them away fiercely as she opened the book to start reading.

_What if Dad comes in?_

She paused, fingers resting on the cover. She didn't want her father to come in - she had nothing to say to him anymore. Thinking quickly, the vampire morphed into a bat, grabbing the book in her talons before it could hit the floor, and flew out the window so that she could go to the roof. She didn't go right to the top; it would bring back painful memories of when her and Johnny had watched the sunrise together.

Mavis found a spot that didn't look too slippery and morphed back. She sat down on the spot and brought her knees up to her chest so that she could rest the book on them; she took one final breath and started to read.

 _Two lonely bats crashed in the night_  
They felt a zing, love at first sight.  
They knew right then they would be husband and wife  
For a zing only happens once in your life  
Your zing will come, my love - cherish it.  
Love Mommy

Her mother's beautiful cursive handwriting spilled out on the pages, all but the last page accompanied by ink-drawn pictures of her parents together. Mavis felt a chill run through her body at the last line of advice - despite being able to see the pictures of her Mom and Dad, she couldn't help but think about her and Johnny. The similarities to the lines were quite chilling; her and Johnny had definitely 'crashed' when they first met (even though she was a vampire, it had still hurt), and as for the zing part...

Johnny had been her zing - there was no question about it. And now he was gone forever.

* * *

Listening to depressing songs did nothing to lighten Johnny's mood as he gazed out the window of the plane while it took off. All he could think about was Mavis; the bright, stunning look on her face during the party, the feel of her lips against his when she'd kissed him, the feel of her arms around his neck...but mostly the look on her face when he'd pushed her away and left.

_No. Stop thinking about that - it was for the best._

Johnny had to keep telling himself that on the journey to the airport, knowing that if he didn't stand his ground then he'd end up turning right back around and causing more trouble. Dracula had been right, he kept telling himself, there's no way he and Mavis could have been together.

And yet, the hole in his heart remained.

A song started to blast through his earphones, and he bowed his head sadly.

_Blindsided torn from the shelf_   
_Checked out, drawn in, and gone_   
_Left my song at the door_   
_Chasing your melody_

_Your eyes light up when I start to sing_   
_Makes it hard for me to breathe_   
_I am weak at the seams_   
_I'm helpless_   
_Your touch reminds me why we're here_   
_Why this doesn't seem real_   
_We can't trust ourselves_   
_We're helpless_

_I remember singing to her,_ Johnny thought, remembering how he'd grabbed a guitar and started to serenade the vampire. She'd seemed quite starstruck, tucking a bang behind her ear and smiling that truly adorable smile of hers-

 _Stop,_ He scolded himself. _There are loads of girls out there to love._

But none of them were Mavis.

 _I swore that I'd stay a man_  
Who'd write songs to strangers in fall  
Slowly my vow turned to ash  
I'm breathing in your melody

To make matters even worse, _Twilight_ had started playing on the plane; resisting the urge to punch the screen on the back of the chair in front of him, he glared down at his lap, eyes glazing over slightly as he fought the urge to cry.

It seemed a poorly decided choice; he got to keep all the blood in his body, sure - but he felt like that would somehow hurt less than the large hole in his heart that felt like it would never be filled again. He felt void of all energy, all desires to keep exploring the world, which was why he'd chosen a flight to his hometown instead of some exotic place he hadn't been to.

_Your eyes light up when I start to sing_   
_Makes it hard for me to breathe_   
_I am weak at the seams_   
_I'm helpless_   
_Your touch reminds me why we're here_   
_Why this doesn't seem real_   
_We can't trust ourselves_   
_We're helpless_

_Yeah. I kinda am helpless right now._

Before he could listen to the rest of the song and muse on it, a dark shape appearing in the window caught his eye.


	8. H - Home

The hotel was literally Mavis' home - it was where she had grown up, where some of her favourite people were and she had fond memories attached to it. Sure, would have other homes in the future, but the hotel would always be one of her homes. Speaking metaphorically, Mavis felt at home in her boyfriend's arms. It was a natural feeling - lying together as they talked or rested, his arms wrapped tightly around the vampiress and making her feel safe even if there was no danger.

Over the years, Johnny's arms became another permanent home to her; if she had a bad day or had a fight with someone, he would hug her close to him. If she felt cold in the winter then he would wrap her up and snuggle her into his chest. If she felt unbelievably happy, perhaps after receiving good news, and she wanted to express it, then they'd laugh and squeeze each other.

For Johnny, the hotel sort of became his home too; not just because it was Mavis' home, but because some of the most awesome people he'd met and become friends with were there, especially Dracula. But that didn't stop him from thinking about his first home - where his family were. Yes, he loved Mavis and would willingly do whatever it took to be with her forever, but he still missed his family.

Sometimes he'd call them - usually his parents, since he wasn't sure which of his brothers still lived at home and which ones had their own lives now - and they'd talk for a little bit. His mother would always ask when he was coming home, and Johnny would find himself with a small lump in his throat as he lied and said, "Soon". He'd also spoken to his youngest brother, Jake, who had just started High School when Johnny met Mavis; it made him miss his brothers like crazy.

"So, where are you now then?" Jake asked, and Johnny heard him start to eat something crunchy.

"Romania," Johnny replied, deciding to leave out a few details. "It's really cool over here..."

Jake snorted slightly at his brother's choice of vocabulary. "Of course it is. It must be late over there...it's, like, noon over here..."

"It's only ten," Johnny said, checking the clock in his room. He'd only just gotten up, thanks to his new sleeping routine, but he wasn't about to admit that to one of his little brothers. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Spring Break." There was a long silence from the other end of the phone. "Hold on a minute..."

_Ah crap. I forgot he was the smart one._

Jake coughed awkwardly, clearly unsure about how to phrase his query. "You were in Romania last September - I remember you telling me and sending a picture of that forest before you started hiking..."

"I came back," The red-head muttered quickly.

There was another silence, and then... "You've met someone, haven't you?"

 _Oh well. What's the point in lying?_ "Yes," Johnny admitted slowly, being careful to choose his words; after all, he didn't want to blab about all the monsters he'd met and put them in danger.

There was a bout of laughter from Jake's end of the phone. "For real? You're not lying or anything?"

"No," Johnny said sharply. "She's completely real - and we're dating!"

_He's lucky I'm not immature enough to stick my tongue out at him...wait, he wouldn't be able to see it._

Jake stopped laughing, and his voice was now serious. "Really? What's her name?"

"Mavis," He felt her name roll of his tongue instinctively, and he tried to remember not to go all lovesick while having a conversation with his brother - if one brother knew, the others would find out soon enough. "She's...nearly nineteen."

There was the sound of air being expelled in surprise. "Wow, man...is she hot? Can you send a picture?"

"She's _beautiful_ ," Johnny agreed, ignoring the question about the picture. "And we've been travelling together since we met...we've been to Hawaii, Budapest, Paris, London...she's never been away from home before, so I thought I'd show her all the great places."

His younger brother sighed slightly. "That sounds so cool, bro. What does she look like? Or are you gonna send me a picture?...Oh, don't tell me, you broke your phone or something-"

"If I'd broken it, I wouldn't be talking to you," Johnny pointed out, rolling his eyes slightly. Maybe Jake wasn't the smart one after all. "No, I just...never thought to take photos because...because she's always in front of me, you know?"

"Well, Mom's going to want to see a picture, and probably Dad too. So, what does she look like? Tell me?"

Johnny, chuckling slightly at the teenager's eagerness, shut his eyes and visualised Mavis in his mind - not that he really needed to, but he enjoyed thinking about her anyway. "Let's see...she's got pretty pale skin, which isn't too surprising since-...uh, since she has an...an allergy to the Sun."

"Wait Wait Wait! Hold up! An allergy to the Sun?" Jake snorted slightly. "Does that seriously even exist?"

Johnny nodded before remembering that he couldn't be seen. "Yeah! Like in that Nicole Kidman film, with the kids who can't be in sunlight...she's got that. Anyway," He cleared his throat. "She's got this black hair, and it's really silky and...and it's styled in bangs..." He chuckled slightly. "For her birthday, I wrote this song, and I called her 'Cute with the Bangy-Bangs'. It was so awesome!"

"Well I'll be damned," Jake muttered in disbelief from over the phone. "You've changed - you're a lovesick idiot now."

 _Wait until he feels what it's like...then he won't be so quick to judge._ "Yeah, well, wait until you meet her - then you'll see what I mean."

The moment it slipped out, he wished it hadn't; he had no plans whatsoever to return home yet, and he didn't want to get his family's hopes up. Unfortunately, just as he opened his mouth to take it back, Jake had taken over the conversation. "You're bringing her home? You're coming home? When?" Jake asked; it was obvious he'd brightened up considerably, and there was excitement evident in his voice. "Is it soon? Have you told Mom and Dad?"

"I...I..." Johnny had no idea what to say; as much as he wanted to show Mavis off to his family, for them all to see how amazing she was, they still had more places to visit. Oh, and the fact that the two were now so used to sleeping during the day didn't help matters either. "I don't know when I'm coming home...I didn't mean it like that. I was just saying about when I _do_ come home...but that could be a while away."

"Oh." Johnny tried not to wince at how his brother's tone of voice had gone dull in the last five seconds, at how disappointed he was. "So...you're not even going to visit?"

"Well-"

"You missed last Christmas, Johnny!" Jake snapped, suddenly angry. Johnny clutched the phone to his ear tightly, eyes wide at his brother's outburst. "You missed my last birthday too! And now you're going to miss this birthday - I'm turning sixteen! I haven't even seen you since I was fourteen - do you not know how awful that is?!"

The older brother cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, Jake, honestly - I got caught up. Like, literally, one minute it was snowing and cold in January, and then the next I was climbing up a mountain in the Summer. I just lost track of time." He started to play with the hem of his t-shirt, hoping his brother wasn't too pissed off at him. "Look, I'll try and be home soon, alright? I might not make it for your birthday, but I'll bring you a present to make up for it."

Jake was silent for a moment, as if considering this. "Fine," He relented, voice quieter and calmer now. "Will you bring your girlfriend home? You know...just so we know what kind of girl settles for a guy like you."

Johnny chuckled slightly at the jibe. "Alright. I'll see if she wants to come - I'm sure she'd love to meet you guys."

"Even if she can't go out in the sun."

"Yeah. Even then."

* * *

Mavis had, of course, been nervous about meeting Johnny's family. It wasn't that she thought they'd be nasty or unpleasant in any way - she was just worried about how they'd react to her being a vampire.

That was the agreement - Johnny wanted to be changed soon before he aged and it was too late. However, Mavis had been worried about his family would be effected; after all, they'd barely be able to see him, unless they came to Transylvania, in case of the sunlight. After their first major argument, the two had agreed on a compromise: if Mavis changed Johnny then he had to tell his family beforehand of his plans. That way Johnny's family would be aware of why he wouldn't age, and why he wouldn't be able to visit as often.

Johnny's family lived in California, near to Los Angeles. Mavis had listened eagerly on the plane journey there to stories that her fiancée recounted animatedly; she found herself giggling uncontrollably when he told her the story of what happened with Bella a few years ago. "She kind of deserved it," Mavis laughed.

Johnny shrugged, although he was grinning. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh about it, but I was terrified! I totally thought she was going to grow claws and kill me or something!"

"Well, you shouldn't have talked with your mouth open," Mavis jibed jokily, elbowing him gently in the ribs. "That's enough to put any girl off, let alone when you spill stuff down them."

"But it was an accident!"

Mavis just shook her head in amusement. "I know. _I_ would have accepted your apology, but that's because you're my zing, so I have no choice."

Johnny rolled his eyes good-naturedly and put an arm around her. "You should have seen the look on Matt and James' faces when I told them - they went completely crazy. They teased me all week over the phone, up until I started travelling." He sighed fondly at the memories. "My Mom cracked up when I told her; you should have seen it! I came home, and she'd been waiting up for me...and she just looked at me and knew something was up. When I told her, she had to sit down she was laughing so hard!"

"I would have," The vampire agreed. "I'm just imagining the look on your face when you walked in...it must have been priceless."

"Not as priceless as my school photos," Johnny muttered, and his fiancée perked up in interest. "Uhh..."

She raised an eyebrow as she leaned closer, intending to get some answers. "What's so 'priceless' about your school pictures? I would have thought you looked cute as a kid."

"Oh, I did," Johnny boasted quickly, and Mavis smiled in amusement. "I was very cute. But...let's just say that glasses and braces were not exactly a cute look on me, alright?"

"You wore glasses?" Mavis asked in surprise. "But...you wear contacts...and what are 'braces'?"

"Well, I couldn't put contacts in when I was eleven," Johnny admitted, shuffling in his seat slightly. "So I had to stick with glasses. And braces...the dentist puts them on your teeth to straighten them out."

Mavis blinked. "The what?"

"Dentist...a doctor for teeth," The human explained patiently. "And, trust me, that is one experience you don't want me to show or explain to you."

The rest of the flight went just as smoothly; the two talked for a little while longer before Mavis decided to get some sleep (the Sun was up, after all) and Johnny put his earphones in to listen to music. It wasn't until five minutes before the airplane touched down that Johnny realized the sky had gone dark and that he could open the blinds on their window. "Hey, May...You've got to see the view from up here."

Mavis stirred slightly in her sleep, mumbling - a second later, he'd jabbed her softly in the ribs, waking her up completely. She yawned, giving him a small side-eye glare and asked, "What? Are we landing?"

"No," He said excitedly. "Well...soon...but you've got to see the view up here!"

He moved back in his seat slightly so that he could peer out the window at the sight; there was a little town full of little houses, some of them having various rooms lit up. In the distance she could see a large bright sign, lit up and displaying the words ' _Hollywood_ ' in bold letters. "Is that where they make movies?"

Johnny nodded and grinned. "Yup. My brother Daniel is an actor - well, the last time I saw him he'd been trying to get an agent, so..."

Mavis didn't really understand what he meant by the agent comment, but she decided to go with it and look back out of the window. "It's really pretty...is this where you grew up?"

"Yeah...actually, one of those houses down there is probably mine."

Mavis stared at the houses with wide eyes; she imagined her fiancée's family in one of the houses, perhaps preparing hurriedly for the couple's arrival. She tried to imagine what kind of atmosphere the house would have; judging by how excited and happy Johnny looked to be back, she decided it was probably a very homely atmosphere.

Mavis was exactly right; after they'd hailed a cab to take them to the house, the couple saw a rather plump and short woman standing by the front door waiting; she smiled when she saw her son and moved forwards to greet him with a hug.

"Oh, Jonathan!" She crooned, and Mavis giggled in amusement when her fiancée found himself engulfed in a large hug the second he stepped out of the car. "I've missed you so much, sweetheart!"

"Geez, Mom...I missed you too," He admitted, putting his arms around her. He was taller than her, so it wasn't too difficult for him to send a small, embarrassed smile at his fiancée; Mavis just sent him a mischievous smirk back. There was no way she was letting him forget this. "Uhh...I kinda need to pay the taxi guy..."

She reluctantly let go of her son, only to turn and finally see the young vampire; Mavis sent the older (well...actually she was younger, but she looked older) woman a nervous smile. "Hi!" She greeted cheerfully. "I'm Mavis!"

Johnny, picking up on the conversation, nodded and grinned. "Yeah..." He cleared his throat and put an arm around his girlfriend proudly. "Mom, this is my fiancée Mavis."

Jean smiled at Mavis kindly. "So _you_ 're the girl who's been traveling with my Johnny. He never stops talking about you..."

"It's nice to meet you," Mavis said, leaning forwards to shake hands. "And, yeah, Johnny loves to talk about you guys too - I could tell he really missed you."

This was obviously the right thing to say since his mother flushed slightly. "Oh. Well, why don't you two come in? You must be exhausted after the flight."

The couple both nodded, neglecting to mention that they were used to staying up at night and in the early hours of the morning, and picked up their suitcases to follow Jean inside.

"So," Jean started in a friendly manner. "Your brothers just went upstairs to bed - that doesn't mean they're awake, though..." She turned to Mavis as she shut the door. "His three younger brothers are home for the week; Jake's nearly finished high school, and the twins are visiting from college."

"What about the others?" Johnny asked, looking kind of put out that not everyone was there.

Jean gave him an assuring smile. "Don't worry - Matt and James will be here before tomorrow evening, and Daniel should visit at some point this week." She gave a secretive little smile as she surveyed the couple. "I think Matt is bringing his girlfriend home too."

Johnny let out a low whistle; he obviously knew who his mother was talking about. "So...he hasn't asked her to marry him yet? They've been dating for, like, seven years."

"That's what I thought."

As Jean bustled off to the kitchen, probably to make them something to eat and drink after their long journey, Johnny leaned closer to the vampire. "I'll just take these up to our room - Daniel's not back yet, so you can have his bed."

Mavis tucked a bang behind her ear and just smiled as he took her bags and headed upstairs. Even though she'd only been in the house for a minute, she immediately felt the warm atmosphere in the air, and just how close Johnny's family were to each other.

She felt at home.

* * *

Although the hotel was one of her homes, Mavis found herself excited to find her own one - just for her and Johnny with their family.

Since Mavis had found out she was expecting, the two had looked around for houses in the area close to the hotel but not too close to humans - while some humans were very accepting and wouldn't mind, they couldn't risk the danger. Besides that, Dracula had requested that he got to see his grandchild grow up, so if they didn't remain in the hotel then they had to be close by.

By the time they'd found a place, Mavis had been eight months along. A vampire pregnancy wasn't all that different from that of a human pregnancy, although it was common for a vampire pregnancy to end a month or so earlier. Because of this, the vampire was far too big to start helping move furniture and paint rooms, so she'd had to settle with watching her husband and supplying ideas about what should go where and what colors were to be used. It had been quite dull, but Johnny hadn't rested until she'd agreed to it.

"I'm just saying," He'd pointed out worriedly. "Imagine if you picked up a really heavy couch or something - you'd stress yourself out, which would stress the baby out-"

"I'm a vampire," Mavis bit out dryly. "I'm much stronger than a normal human woman, in case you didn't notice."

After their baby had been born that October - a daughter named Lucy - the two had stayed at the hotel for a couple of days, just while Mavis recovered. It also gave all of their monster friends a chance to see the newest addition to their family; Griffin, in particular, had choked up pretty badly while holding her (much to Johnny's hushed worries - he couldn't see what the guy was doing with her!), his glasses misting over slightly. Dracula was also a frequent visitor; he was always the first and last one to hold his granddaughter during the night, gazing down at her face with large adoring blue eyes.

"She looks like you, Mavey," Dracula muttered often, stroking back the few tufts of hair that had already grown.

Mavis laughed slightly. "Except for the hair - you can blame Johnny for that."

"Yes...blame Johnny..." He sent a joking glare while smirking at his son-in-law. "Anyway, when will you two be leaving?"

"Sick of us already, Drac?" Johnny asked, grinning and raising an eyebrow.

"No...I was just...she's only just been born..."

Mavis held a hand up, a signal for him to stop babbling. "We don't know. It'll probably be in a few days...But we'll come back regularly, Dad." She added, seeing the disappointed look on her father's face. She could already tell that her father loved the baby, and she wouldn't dare keep him apart from her for too long.

True to their word, they were all packed within the next few days - there was a couple of extra bags, full of various items for their daughter and including some cuddly toys given to her by Mavis' various uncles and aunts. Her favorite one had been the one that her father had given, though; a little stuffed bat for Lucy to cuddle with during sleep.

"You want any help with that?" Frank had asked, eying the couple as they looked at their bags.

Johnny gave a small nod. "Uhh...sure. It's a bit more difficult than before, what with the baby and all..."

Frank had chuckled and picked up a handful of bags. "Don't worry - I get it."

They followed him as he carried their bags to the hearse they were traveling in - after all, they couldn't really fly with a newborn baby just yet - and continued to talk for a little bit longer. After the couple said their final goodbyes to everyone (making promises to be back as soon as they could) they'd set off for their new home.

It wasn't too far away, only a ten minute drive from the hotel, but far away enough that it felt like the couple had some independence in raising their family (as much as they loved Dracula, they wanted to experience raising a family by themselves). It was just a small little cottage-type building, concealed in the forest from humans, but large enough for their small family at a moment. It consisted of one large bedroom for Johnny and Mavis, a slightly smaller room for their baby, and another room for a guest bedroom (or a second child, but they weren't thinking too much about that yet); there was also a small little living room with a dining table, so that they could eat there, and a medium-sized kitchen.

When they'd gotten to their new house, Johnny had taken their daughter from his wife so that she could get out, and started cooing over her rather loudly as she stirred awake. "Hey, now...no need to be scared...it was just the hearse stopping, no big deal." He held her against his shoulder and patted her back soothingly. "Quieten down now, little Lu, Daddy's here-"

"You've turned into my dad," Mavis giggled as she took in the sight in front of her. "I never thought I'd hear you using baby talk." In all honesty, she found it adorable that he not only talked to their daughter so sweetly, but also had a nickname for her already.

Johnny grinned and passed Lucy back to her mother. "So...here we are."

Mavis smiled at him as she held the bundled up baby girl to her chest. "Here we are. Our new home."


	9. I - Inadequate

Don't get him wrong: Johnny _loved_ his brothers, of course he did, but sometimes being one of seven just _sucked._ It was like...his older brothers set high standards in various things, so people expected him to live up to it; he had to set standards for his younger brothers too, since he was the middle child.

_Matt's brother, 'ey? Probably want to be a lawyer like him._

_Or a journalist, like James..._

_No - his brother Daniel was a talented student in my drama class. Johnny will want to do the same._

Truth was, Johnny didn't want to do any of the things his brothers had; he couldn't stand the thought of all the studying it took to be a lawyer like Matt or the work to be a journalist like James...Hell, he didn't even think he'd enjoy doing acting all the time like Daniel (besides, he wasn't that great at it anyway - apparently he messed around too much). He wasn't stupid or anything - quite the opposite - but he just didn't have the willpower to push himself and do something with it, instead just choosing to go along and take life as it came at him.

It didn't stop him from feeling quite ashamed, though, when the teachers realized that he wasn't like his older brothers; the looks on their faces when he failed to answer a question correctly or produce any work of a good standard was telling in itself, let alone when mixed with comments. It was even worse coming from people like his grandparents - they were people he loved, and they still criticized him.

It got even worse when the older brothers came home every now and then; each time, Matt would bring a pretty girlfriend with him and boast about how many cases he'd successfully won in court. James was slightly less obvious about his success - although, he did talk non-stop about his boss' positive comments on his articles, and how many people probably read the newspaper he worked for. As much as he loved his brothers, it made him feel kind of awful and pressured about his own short list of achievements.

He didn't feel completely useless as he got older, though; during his sophomore year of High School, the red head found himself singing and rapping underneath his breath - and sounding pretty good while doing so. He also started to take an interest in guitar playing, so his parents eagerly agreed to pay for the school to give him lessons.

It wasn't that Johnny wasn't good at the music thing - in fact, he was quite a talented guitar player, and his voice was certainly improving over time. The teachers at the school seemed quite happy that he had a talent that he could pursue, just like his brothers had, and they all wanted to help him go to a music college somewhere in a different state. The fact was, however, Johnny didn't have much of a drive for it.

No, don't get him wrong: he still loved playing and creating music, of course, but...it wasn't really what he wanted to do with his life. He didn't know at all what he wanted to do with his life at all - he had a feeling in his gut though that told him that there was something out there in the world waiting for him. This only added to his eagerness to travel and see new things, and he started to do weekend jobs to get more money for this task.

Johnny knew that somewhere out there in the world there was something - maybe even someone - who would make him feel like his life was meaningful. Something (or someone) who made him feel useful, and like he was just every bit as good as his brothers. And he was determined to find it.

* * *

Mavis sighed as she watched her fiancée look up at her from the roof and pout adorably; she quickly morphed back and dropped next to him gently on the tiles. "You should tell me if you don't want me to fly, you know," She joked. "I mean, I can't exactly read minds."

"I don't mind," Johnny mumbled quickly. "Anyway, you look really cool when you're flying - like, really free and fun...Keep doing it if you want."

Mavis gently bit her lip, careful not to pierce it with her fangs, and surveyed him with large blue eyes. "Is this because you can't fly with me?" She questioned quietly. "Because you can't do all the things I can?"

"Because I'm human."

They'd had this conversation millions of times; Johnny was still insisting that she change him as soon as possible, and Mavis just didn't quite know what to do about it. It was somewhat of a sore spot for the two of them, and they usually tried to avoid it as much as possible.

"I said I was thinking about it," Mavis reminded him. "It's a difficult decision, and I want to make sure you're ready-"

"You've been saying that for about three years, May," Johnny stated, sitting up straight and gazing at her straight in the eyes. "Before you know it, it'll be another few years, and then another. Soon I won't have any more years left, and it'll be too late." His eyes softened a touch as he reached across the space between them and grabbed her hand in his. "If I wasn't ready, I wouldn't keep asking for it."

Mavis shut her eyes. "You don't get it. It's not just as simple as biting you and changing you - it's a long and painful process. I don't want to put you through that."

"A few days of pain is nothing compared to hundreds of years of it because I'm gone," The human said softly, not wanting to upset her or anything. "Mavis..."

The vampire squeezed his hand tightly. "There has to be a different reason - it can't just be because of the age thing."

Her fiancée hesitated slightly, and suddenly his hand had slipped from hers. "I...err...fine, I'll tell you, but promise not to laugh or anything, alright?"

Mavis nodded, waiting patiently for an explanation.

"Here it goes," Johnny breathed, half to himself. "Let's face it; I'm human. I can't do any of the cool things you can...and besides that, I'm completely weak compared to you. Like, if something bad were to happen, what would I do?" He stared up at the sky in thought. "What if something happened to _me_? I can't heal quickly either...I can't hunt scorpions for you, or chase you as a bat..."

"You're kidding me," Mavis muttered in disbelief. "Are you telling me that you feel...not good enough? Seriously?"

Johnny bowed his head meekly and didn't answer.

The vampire watched him with hard eyes. "First of all, I don't care that you can't turn into a bat or anything - the only people I know who can are me and my Dad. Second of all, nothing bad is going to happen to anyone, especially not us - even if something bad did happen, it's not _your_ job to protect me. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly a defenceless little girl."

Johnny couldn't help but crack a small smile. "No, I guess not."

"And anyway," Mavis continued, glad that she was getting through to him. "You can do loads of things that I can't; you can go out in the sunlight, eat garlic...I've never seen what I look like, except for in paintings - but they're not always that accurate."

"You look beautiful all the time," The human chuckled assuringly.

Mavis smiled in satisfaction. "See? Even though you can't fly or anything, you still have your uses, not matter how big or small they appear to be."

There was a silence between them as her words sunk in; the two watched the clouds in the sky pass over the moon slowly, both of them thinking on the matter.

Finally, Johnny piped up. "Look, I love how I do all of that for you - it does make me feel somewhat better...but I still want to be a vampire. I want to be with you forever and forever-"

"Vampires don't live forever," Mavis interrupted dryly. "We just live for hundreds of years - sometimes even a thousand."

"Still, I want to spend all that time with you," The redhead insisted, looking at her pleadingly. "Mavis, we're getting married next year - as corny as it sounds, I want us to start our life together as equals. Both of us as vampires."

Mavis gave a sigh and looked away from his hopeful gaze. "I...Fine."

"But...Wait, what?"

"I'll change you a few months before the wedding," She said slowly. "That way you'll have some control over your powers and strength...but we have to lay down some rules."

Johnny nodded quickly, jumping up so that he was on his knees - he nearly slid off the roof, but he didn't care too much. "Oh, of course! Anything!"

Mavis cleared her throat. "First of all, you either let my dad do it or you let him help - I don't want to screw it up."

"Done."

"Second, you have to tell your family about it." When he just stared at her with surprised wide eyes, she gave a nod. "Yes. This is a big thing, and it effects your family too - if you're changing, you owe them an explanation at least."

Johnny hesitated, as if thinking about it for a moment; a few seconds later, he nodded slowly. "Alright," He agreed, and then he grinned wildly at her. "Mavis? I'm actually gonna be a vampire."

Despite the serious mood the conversation had taken place in, she couldn't help but smile. "Yup. Unless you thought I was talking about something else."


	10. J - Jealousy

It was ridiculous, she knew that, but she couldn't help it. It was just how she felt, and there wasn't anything she could do about it.

Mavis was slightly jealous of Johnny. It was stupid, she knew that, but when she thought about it she knew it was the cold hard truth. It wasn't jealous in a bitter and mean way - of course not - but rather in an envious kind of way.

Johnny had seen more in his short human years than the vampire had in her entire life. He'd experienced sunrises, sunsets, what it was like to eat garlic bread, failed relationships, the feeling of seeing new things, travelling all over the world...all of the normal things that she craved desperately to experience herself.

When Mavis had admitted this to her boyfriend one afternoon while they were flying someplace - India, she remembered vaguely - he'd just chuckled in slight confusion.

"You're jealous of me?" He asked slowly, as if he didn't quite believe it (which he didn't). "Really?"

"You're so normal," She pointed out. "You know what it's like to be normal - to not have to worry about sunlight or garlic or anything. You're... _human_ ," She whispered the last word quietly so that no one on the plane would overhear. "Your dad isn't the famous owner of a hotel or anything...at least, not as far as I know...and you're just so _normal._ "

Johnny, much to her surprise, scoffed and snorted at this comment. "Normal is boring, Mavy - I'd much rather go on exciting and dangerous adventures than sit at work in an office and be normal." He leaned back in his seat and shut his eyes; he was tired from their recent traveling. "Anyway, all of these normal things are considered boring to us humans. I'd much rather live your life - it's so awesome."

"In what way is it boring?" Mavis asked curiously.

"Oh, you know..." He yawned tiredly and stretched his arms out. "I've seen a sunrise and sunset practically every day since I was a toddler. Because of that, I don't really think much of it - it's just something I'm used to because it's an everyday thing. But then you," He opened his eyes and looked at her pointedly, much to her surprise. "You never saw it, 'til that day on the roof, right? And you thought it was, and I quote, the _'most incredible'_ thing you ever saw."

The vampire was sure that, if she could have, her face would have heated up and flushed at his quoting. "I-I guess..."

"Since I got to the hotel," Her boyfriend continued. "I haven't really seen too many sunrises or anything - and I'm glad, 'cause now it's a lot more special than it was before." He grinned at her happily. "Mainly 'cause I get to experience it with you now, though."

"That adds to it," Mavis agreed - part of the experience was being able to see such a beautiful sight with her zing and relax. "But still...surely you'd agree it'd be better to not have to deal with a famous father."

Johnny tilted his head to the side, thinking about it for a moment. "No," He admitted slowly. "I guess it'd be fun at first, but not if it's all the time. Alright, fine, I get that that's not something so special, but everything else is. After all," He added, smiling to himself as he re-shut his eyes to sleep. "How many girls can say that they can walk up walls or turn into a bat?"

"You only like me being a bat because it means I can carry you around," Mavis retorted, laughing slightly as she said it.

"Well, how many dudes can say their girlfriend can fly them around as a bat?" Johnny chuckled slightly as she nestled into his side; maybe she could do with some sleep too. As the two dozed off, Mavis _did_ feel a little less jealous - not completely, but a little.

* * *

_If any of them get any closer, I'm gonna throw my bags at them._

Johnny was sure his face had gone bright red with the anger he was restraining as he watched what was going on a couple of meters away. He wasn't usually so wound up about stuff, but he couldn't hold it back, it was too much...

Mavis giggled at something one of the young men said, clearly not quite seeing what her boyfriend was.

It had all started that evening. The couple were in London this time, and had decided that, for the evening, they'd do a bit of early evening shopping (made possible by the fact that it was Winter and it got darker considerably earlier) before heading over to the London Eye and looking out over London. It seemed like a pretty good evening, and both of them were looking forward to it.

It started out pretty great; Johnny had wrapped his arm around his girlfriend as they walked, bringing them closer so that they were sharing body heat and keeping each other warm. London was quite pretty, too; despite the constant roaring of buses and cars going in and out of the busy city, it was still quite a nice atmosphere to be in, especially since all of the big landmarks (like Big Ben) were lit up.

"I didn't know London had so many stores," Mavis commented in awe, peering down the high street. "At least, not all in one place."

Johnny chuckled at how surprised she was. "Yeah...almost as great as the malls we have in America, I guess. So, where do you wanna head first?"

Being a female, of course Mavis wanted to look at clothes; however, much to Johnny's relief, she wasn't too picky about what clothes she bought - they weren't in a clothing shop for any longer than five minutes at a time. Both of them wanted to look in the book shop; Mavis so that she could see what kind of books humans read and how they differed to the ones in the hotel library, and Johnny just so he could find a travel book on another place they could visit in the near future.

Another place they were both eager to visit was the music stores; Johnny and Mavis loved listening to modern music in whatever hotel room they were staying in or on the plane journeys they experienced. As much as Mavis enjoyed the music her Dad had the bands play back at the hotel, the modern music was more of her thing.

This was where it started to go wrong - well, for Johnny at least.

One minute the two of them had been talking and laughing together, flipping through the CDs in the store and discussing what ones to get, and then the next Mavis was saying that she'd like to see if she could get anything for her Dad.

"But there aren't any CD players or anything at the hotel," Johnny pointed out as she walked away.

Mavis shrugged slightly. "Maybe we can get him one another time...and besides, don't they sell records or anything here?"

Johnny nodded and looked around the shop. "I think it'll be at the back."

"Cool," She smiled at him and walked in the direction he'd said. "I'll be back in a minute."

Johnny nodded again and resumed looking through the different CDs on the shelves. It took him about five minutes to pick out which ones he wanted (he only had so much money he'd be able to spend in this country), and then another five minutes to queue up and pay. By the time he had the CDs in a little plastic bag, he realized that his girlfriend hadn't come looking for him. Trying not to panic too much, he strolled towards the back of the shop in the direction she'd gone in, whistling along to the song playing from the shop's speakers.

He turned around a shelf of CDs and records, only to stop dead in his tracks.

Mavis was standing there, leaning slightly against the shelf with a couple of CDs and records in her arms. She was smiling widely (not too widely, since he couldn't see her fangs) with her eyes bright, and her nose crinkled as she laughed. That was when Johnny saw that his girlfriend was talking to a group of young men - perhaps his own age, maybe a little bit older - all of whom looked _very_ interested in talking to her.

All of whom were staring at her in a way Johnny himself had stared at her.

He felt anger boil up inside of him - how dare they?! This was _his_ girlfriend standing there, _his_ girlfriend. She was taken, she had a zing, so why would she be interested in _them_?

All of them - there were about three or four of them - were quite attractive, so as to speak. Two of them were even quite muscled and fit, making Johnny suddenly feel quite conscious of his own lanky appearance. It wouldn't have been so bad, if only Mavis wasn't talking to them in such an animated way, like she actually enjoyed their company.

He knew better; she was just excited to meet new people, especially new people from a different country. It wasn't like she _liked_ them in _that_ way, and he knew that deep down...but still, something took over him, making the human see nothing but how his girlfriend was being flirted with.

One of the guys, one of the muscled ones, moved in closer to her. That was it.

Johnny stomped over there rather angrily, probably not looking too attractive but not caring one bit. Mavis caught sight of him and turned slightly to face him; she smiled even wider. "Hey, Johnny!"

He ignored her greeting, instead glaring up at all of the men. "Keep away from my girlfriend!" He half-snarled, straightening up to try and appear taller.

The men looked surprised; the one who had stepped closer a few seconds earlier rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Oh! Man, we're sorry! We totally didn't realize-"

"Of course you didn't!" Johnny muttered sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Yeah right!"

Mavis frowned, leaning in closer to her boyfriend. "What's wrong? Why are you so angry?"

"I get it, she's absolutely beautiful and perfect in every way," Johnny continued ignoring her question. "But that's why she's taken, by me! So just back off!"

Another guy stepped forwards, also looking apologetic. "Man, we really didn't know. Honest!"

"And besides," Mavis interjected, annoyed. "We were just talking! They were helping me pick some music out for my Dad because I don't know anything about it!" She turned back to the group of men, looking very embarrassed. "I'm so sorry about my boyfriend, I honestly don't know what came over him."

"Don't worry," The first one said, flashing her a quick smile. "If you were my girlfriend, I'd probably be the same."

_Well she's not, so shut up._

Mavis just smiled back. "Well, thank you for helping me...I've never been here before, so..."

"Tourist then, hey?" A third one questioned in his British accent, grinning at her. "Don't worry about it - we're used to the tourists over here. It's been pretty busy, since the Olympics back in 2012."

Mavis blinked - it was obvious to Johnny that she didn't know what the Olympics were. "Oh...right...well thanks!"

After exchanging a couple more goodbyes, the men turned their different ways from the couple; the vampire turned to glare at her boyfriend, who just stared back. "What?" He asked, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

"What was that about?" She questioned angrily. "That was totally embarrassing!"

"I was just...but...you were..."

Mavis rolled her eyes slightly. "You were so rude to them! They were just trying to help me - they were just being friendly!"

"I think they had a lot more than being friends on their mind," Johnny blurted out.

Mavis stared at him in disbelief as it hit her. "Don't tell me...you were jealous?"

"What?" The red-head straightened up, trying to regain his lost dignity. "Of course not! Why...you know...I mean..."

"You were jealous!" Mavis repeated incredously, and her boyfriend hung his head while going as red as his hair. "You were totally jealous of them! Why?"

The human shrugged slightly. "I dunno...I guess...they're fairly good-looking...and you looked really into what they were saying...and they looked really into you in _that_ way...and you were really close to each other!"

The vampire just shook her head in utter disbelief. "I don't believe it...Johnny, you're my zing. I was hardly going to run off with a handsome British guy when I've got you, was I?" Johnny didn't answer. "And besides, I was only so interested in what they were saying because I've never been here before - it's all new to me, so I want to know as much as I can."

"I guess."

Mavis walked up to the shop counter to pay for her things. "I can't believe you yelled at them..."

"I'm sorry, Mavy," Johnny apologized, not looking at her. The guy behind the counter started bagging the CDs and records. "But I just...yeah."

Mavis gave the man behind the counter the money and took her shopping bag from him. She turned back to her boyfriend and just sighed. "I don't want to be angry at you," She said reluctantly. "It's too nice a night for that. How about we put it behind us, alright?"

Johnny nodded, looking up at her quickly. "Yeah, of course!"

As they linked hands and left the shop, Mavis leaned in closer so that she could whisper something in his ear. "Try not to get too jealous in future, though. Okay? You're the only guy I want to be with."


	11. K - Kiss

Even though he didn't go on a date until he was eighteen (embarrassing, he knew), Johnny had experienced his very first kiss when he was fourteen and a half.

He'd been at Daniel's sixteenth birthday party - their parents had allowed him to throw a party, but they'd gone out of the town for the weekend, leaving the older brothers in charge of everything. Of course, Matt and James, who were visiting for the occasion, only threw the wildest party ever to celebrate their brother's birthday.

Being a teenager, Johnny was allowed to stay up later than the twins (both of whom had recently turned eleven) and Jake (who was just a week or so shy of his eighth birthday) - hell, if he stayed out of the bigger kids' way, then he'd probably get to stay the entire party.

Johnny _loved_ parties; he loved getting to feel wild and free and just so _young_ and everything...he loved getting to dance and sing along to the newest music tracks that had only just been released, and getting to dance with everyone in a big group. Even though he'd been told not to talk to the older kids (James threatened to overrun his bed with giant tarantulas if he did), the older kids didn't seem to mind talking to him at all. In fact, some of the dudes seemed quite cool, and they didn't mind letting Johnny have sips of their beer (not that it tasted all that nice to him); the girls were quite nice and pretty too, and even jokingly danced with him. Johnny knew they were just doing it either because they felt kind of sorry for him (he was the youngest there, after all) or to make their friends laugh - but he didn't care. A girl was a girl.

Towards midnight, the party just got louder and more exciting; in the middle of the sitting room James and Matt had started a game of _Spin the Bottle_ with a group of Daniel's friends. Daniel looked up at his younger brother, quite groggily since he'd been drinking (illegally), and grabbed his arm.

"Let's let the baby join!" He hiccupped to Matt and James excitedly.

Johnny didn't even have time to be offended because his other brothers pulled him into the circle and sat him so he was between Matt and a pretty blonde girl. "Cool...I've never played this before, but..."

"I'll go first!" One of Daniel's friends - his best friend, Johnny noted after a second - cried out, leaning forwards and spinning the bottle in the middle of the circle. The neck of the bottle pointed towards the blonde next to Johnny (much to his relief), and the two kissed.

As the game went on, it became clear to the middle brother just how drunk these people had become; he'd seen not only his brothers kiss or being kissed by various girls, but girls kissing each other (much to the delight of the guys in the circle) and the other guys kissing each other (not him though). Hell, he was pretty sure he'd be scarred for life now after seeing James passionately kiss Daniel's other best friend - it wasn't like he was homophobic in any way, of course, but it was just _weird_ to have to see.

Finally, just after midnight, all eyes were turned on him. "You've gotta do it, baby bro!" Matt yelled, his arm slung around a brunette girl he'd locked lips with a few minutes ago. "You stay up with the big boys, you gotta play by our rules!"

Everyone cheered in agreement, looking at him expectantly. Not wanting to be seen as a baby or coward, the red-head nodded to himself quickly before reaching into the circle and spinning the infamous bottle. As he sat back on his haunches he found himself desperately hoping that his first kiss would be an actual girl (not that he hated gays or anything...but he just wanted to kiss a girl before going into that kind of thing) who was attractive, maybe smelt nice as opposed to beer breath...if he had to kiss a dude, he just hoped it wouldn't be one of his brothers. The teen's heart thumped harder as he watched the bottle slow down...

It landed on, thankfully, on a dark-haired girl sitting opposite him. She smiled at him and nodded - a sign that he could proceed and kiss her.

Johnny shut his eyes in anticipation, mentally going through all the tips he'd been given by his brothers and guys at school; did he use tongue during a first kiss? Was he expected to? Would it make him look advanced if he did? The only sounds he could hear were the thumping of his heart and the baseline of the music thumping in the background...

It was just a peck on the lips; it lasted no longer than a second, and there were no sparks or anything. Nonetheless, Johnny found the experience somewhat enjoyable and pleasant, and couldn't stop the grin that formed on his face as he pulled back. "Awesome," He whispered to himself, licking his lips and tasting the girl's cherry lip-gloss.

His brothers were wolf-whistling and cat-calling, clearly drunk and finding the experience amusing. As a result, the teenager turned bright red and shyly avoided the girl's gaze; not that she would be looking at him anyway. He'd seen her arrive with a boyfriend that night - maybe her boyfriend was sitting in the circle and had seen the entire thing. He went even brighter red at the thought.

All in all, his first kiss hadn't been particularly special. It was just another kiss done when teens were drunk, no big deal. But, in a weird way, it was special to him; despite the fact he never saw that girl ever again or developed romantic feelings for her, he remembered her just because she'd been the first girl to kiss him; once the first kiss was out of the way, he didn't have to worry about kisses meaning anything again...

Well, until he found someone special that is.

* * *

Kissing Johnny made Mavis feel as though sparks were racing through her body at a mile a minute; it was such a storybook and cliché description, but the vampire felt that this was really the only way to describe such a feeling.

Some would say this was just a ridiculous teenage girl thing; she'd never kissed a guy before Johnny, so how was she supposed to know that it was as special as she said it was? Well, that was quite simple - they'd zinged, for a start. That said right from the beginning that it would be special. Besides that, there was just an instinct in her that _knew_ that he was special - the one.

Kissing was one of the most basic forms of affection in the behaviour of any being; friends sometimes kissed in greeting, parents comforted children with kisses on their boo-boos and it was a way a couple said that they loved each other without actually saying it. That was why Mavis liked kissing her boyfriend so much; it conveyed so many feelings in such a small and simple way.

The first time she'd kissed Johnny, despite it being interrupted and ruined, a spark had ran through her body (and it was nothing to do with the current sizzling through the crowd either); it was as if they were the only two people in the world, and it was completely and utterly perfect. Well, until her Dad interrupted and everything went downhill, but that wasn't really to do with the kiss.

Even as the years went by and the two changed and grew older, kissing Johnny always seemed kind of new and exciting; the sparks always ran through her body, as if she was connected to an electrical current of some kind. As for it feeling new...you could do so much when it came to kissing: a simple peck on the lips, you could use tongue, a make out session that lead to something more...and it wasn't just restricted to lips, as she soon found out. Kissing

Strangely, the kiss that she was most fond of wasn't their first kiss or even their retry at it; it wasn't even one when they were in each other's arms and looking out over beautiful cities either. No, one of the ones she was the most fond of had occurred while they were sitting on a plane - their first flight.

The plane had only just taken off, and the couple were snuggled up together underneath a large travel blanket, just about ready to get some sleep. They hadn't closed the shade on the window yet, because the Sun hadn't completely risen - Johnny was making sure to keep an eye on it. After all, his girlfriend wouldn't be fun to cuddle if she was burnt - or worse, a pile of ashes.

"Hawaii here we come," Johnny yawned, putting an arm around the vampire and squeezing her tightly. "I totally missed Hawaii. All the Sun and music and what have you..." He looked between the window and Mavis, suddenly remembering something important. "The Sun's not got you yet, right?"

"Am I screaming in pain?" Mavis asked rhetorically, rolling her eyes slightly before looking out of the window. Even though it was still somewhat dark outside, she could still see lights from cities below, and brief rays of sunlight filtering through pink clouds slowly. "So...Hawaii."

"Yup," Johnny agreed while grinning. "Hawaii - the first of our many adventures!"

He ducked down to kiss her; a mere peck, but it ignited something inside of Mavis. The first of many adventures...she couldn't help but see the bright future ahead; how many places they'd travel to, how many sights they'd see. But it wasn't just that; after they'd finish traveling, they had the whole of their lives to look forward to together. Houses, getting married (that was a very likely option considering the fact that they'd zinged), maybe even kids...growing old together slowly too, if she had the heart to change him.

It's amazing how something as simple as a kiss can mean so much.


	12. L - Love

There are many different kinds of love in the world; there is the love between a parent and child that's unbreakable, the love between two close friends who'll stick by each other through everything, and of course the love between two lovers that shifts and grows over time. One of the earliest forms of love that we experience as a being is love received from parents and relatives.

Although she couldn't remember her mother, Mavis knew that Martha had loved her. After all, it was her mother - a mother's love is natural and instinctive, something that is never broken despite wrong-doings. Even though she'd been too young to remember much of her mother, she always had her father to uphold these memories.

Every morning, just as the sun rose, Dracula would help change his daughter into her pyjamas, close the curtains, and make sure she was comfortable in her coffin. Only then would he start to tell her stories - sometimes about the nasty humans, other times just recollections of his own experiences. Despite the fact he had a hotel to run, he always managed to take an hour out of his time to spend time with his daughter.

"Are you comfy, my little ghoul?" He would ask, and she would nod her head eagerly, sometimes even letting out a chirpy 'yep!'. Dracula chuckled. "Okay then. Let's see...have I told you about before you were born, about your mother?"

Mavis blinked; even if she had, she still wanted to hear it. "I don't think so."

"I shall tell you," Dracula cleared his throat and tucked the tiny vampire under his arm. "Your mother was expecting you, and it wasn't long until you were born - I've told you about how women, when they have babies, are pregnant, yes?"

Mavis nodded, somewhat unsurely. "Yeah, they get big tummies! Like Auntie Wanda has now, right?"

"Exactly, yes. Well, your mother got _very_ big - yes, bigger than Auntie Wanda!" Dark blue eyes widened in surprise, mouth half-open in awe; Dracula couldn't help but chuckle slightly at her expression. "Unfortunately, when mothers get very big because they are have babies, they cannot do a lot...rather like having a big lunch. Your mother didn't like not being able to do things, Mavy, and she couldn't fly either."

"Couldn't fly?" The younger vampire looked shocked; her father let her fly around outside with him whenever they could, and it was one of her favourite things to practice. "Not even a little bit?"

Dracula shook his head. "Not even a little bit. But don't worry," He said quickly, seeing his daughter looking rather disappointed - she knew, after all, that she was the reason. "She still found small ways of amusing herself, my dear one."

"What? What did she do?"

The Count couldn't help but chuckle at the memories running through his mind; his wife had been quite a fantastic young vampiress, and he'd loved her more than anything (well...besides Mavis of course). "Being pregnant, she got hungry quite a lot - she used it as an excuse to steal food from my plate when she thought I wasn't looking."

"I do that anyway," Mavis giggled, rolling her eyes slightly.

 _Yes...she definitely gets it from Martha_. "She read a lot of books too, to keep busy. However, she read them all within a month and soon got bored."

"And?"

Dracula smirked to himself slightly. "I came home from a flight one night, and I found her enchanting the books to fly around the library. One nearly took my wings off!" Mavis laughed at the idea of it all, and her father noticed that her eyes were starting to droop shut a little. It wouldn't be long until she was asleep now. "Your mother said she didn't mean to nearly flatten me, but I know better."

He did too; it was half his fault Martha had been stuck with nothing to do, even though (as he protested) it had been a joint decision to extend their family. Besides, the look on her face when he'd recovered had given him all the answers he had needed.

"How do Mommies and Daddies have babies anyway?"

Dracula couldn't help but jerk slightly at this question - what to say? Especially since Mavis was only fifty-two...still, that question was bound to come up some day, much to his discomfort. "Well...Mommies and Daddies love each other," Dracula explained slowly. "And when a Mommy and a Daddy have zinged, they know that...that they will spend the rest of their lives together."

Mavis sat up, frowning. "I know that, Daddy. But how do they have a baby?"

 _Think...think..._ "Well...a zing is...is lots and lots of love," He managed to say, blurting it out on the spot. "In fact, it is so much love that...that it's too much."

"Too much?"

"Yes," He agreed slowly, shutting his eyes as if it would help him think more. "So...so that extra love is used...to give a Mommy and Daddy a baby!"

_I can practically hear you laughing, Martha...ha ha...very funny indeed._

Dracula could tell that his daughter wasn't exactly understanding his made-up answer, so he decided to try and elaborate a little. "You see how Uncle Wayne and Auntie Wanda are having wolf puppies? That's because they have all this extra love, and now they are having babies."

Mavis bit her lip softly as she tried to understand this. "So..so because Uncle Wayne and Auntie Wanda are having lots of puppies, does that mean that they love each other more than other people?"

Dracula nodded, deciding to use this. "Yes, exactly! Now, my little blood orange, you need to get some rest or you will not get up in the night." Mavis let out a tiny groan at the prospect of going to bed, but lay down obediently. Dracula pulled the covers over her form so she would freeze in the day, and leaned downwards to kiss her head affectionately. "Sweet nightmares, Mavy."

"Sweet nightmares to you too, Daddy," She murmured sleepily. "Love you."

"Love you too."

* * *

Johnny yawned, stretching his arms out and scratching his neck tiredly; even though he hadn't slept during the night for years, it was still an odd feeling to have to experience...still, he'd do anything if it meant getting to stay in the hotel with his girlfriend and friends.

His stomach growled at him loudly; he was hungry. The human pushed himself out of bed and walked over to the wardrobe in the corner of the room - he threw on a random combination of clothes, went to brush his teeth, and didn't even bother trying to tidy his hair up. It was, after all, like fighting a losing battle.

Once he was clean and fresh, Johnny left his room and headed towards his girlfriend's room. He couldn't help but wonder, as he walked, when Dracula was going to let them share a room when they visited...it wasn't like they were going to do much if they were together in a room, besides sleep and watch videos on Johnny's phone. Still, he liked the Count, and knew it would be best to do whatever he said.

"Hey, talking head!" He greeted cheerfully as he reached for the door knob to his girlfriend's room. "How's it hanging?"

" _You did_ not _just call me,_ _'talking head'!_ "

Johnny flinched slightly but grinned. "Sorry!" He pushed the door open, ignoring the head's grumbles at such an indignity.

As he shut the door and looked around, it appeared no one was there. Just as he turned his head to the right, however, another head suddenly appeared upside down and next to his; he found himself being kissed swiftly on the lips. Johnny grinned into it, opening his eyes when it ended much too soon.

"Good evening," He said, laughing in a slightly giddy way.

Mavis, who had been sitting and waiting on the ceiling for him fully-dressed, giggled too. "Good evening! I've always wanted to try doing that - it's fun!" She pushed herself off the ceiling and smiled at him. "Let's go get breakfast! I'm absolutely starving!"

"Yeah! I was just gonna ask if we could go get some!" Johnny put his arm around her, and they started to leave the room. "I dunno if the kitchen's open yet, though..."

Mavis looked over at the curtains; there didn't appear to be much light coming through. "It should be. Even if it's not, I _am_ the owner's daughter...I'll race you down there!"

"But you know you'll win," Johnny pointed out, restraining his laughter for a moment. "I mean, you can fly!"

"I'll go slow. Why?" She leaned closer, a teasing light in her eyes. "Scared I'll beat you?"

Johnny scoffed; he loved his girlfriend, sure, but bantering with her was too much fun. "Never!"

The vampire morphed into her bat form, clearly ready to put this to the test. "I see. I'll give you a five second head-start anyway."

The two left the room and shut the door behind them, ignoring the shrunken head's protests when it slammed slightly. True to her word, Mavis let Johnny clumsily start running down the corridor and towards the stairs, waiting exactly five seconds before taking off. In no time, it seemed, she was flying past Johnny, laughing and narrowly missing his head.

"You did _not_ wait five seconds!" He complained, slowing down in his running.

"Did too!" She retorted, giggling as she looked over her furry shoulder. "You're just slow!"

Of course, Mavis had been first to the kitchen; when Johnny finally got there, quite out of breath, he found the vampire leaning against the kitchen doorway, already having changed back, and smiling smugly at him. "Fine," He sighed in defeat, slightly out of breath by his run. "You win...again."

"You challenged me - again." Mavis stood up straight and linked their fingers together. "Come on, I smell wormcakes being made already."

Defeat forgotten, the human let his girlfriend lead him into the kitchen; sure, it sucked not getting to win, but being in love was a much more rewarding victory.

* * *

After the initial shock of the news, Mavis found that she absolutely _loved_ being pregnant.

There was something about it...sure, the fact that she couldn't fly or walk as much was a huge pain in the ass, but besides that she found that being pregnant was fantastic! For one thing, it was a great excuse for Johnny to let her pick at his plate if she finished her own, shrugging and saying, 'Hey, you're eating for two! You need it!'. Another positive was that Mavis absolutely _glowed_ during pregnancy - she quickly realized that not only her husband but numerous guests were staring at her in awe, like she was the most beautiful thing in the room. Put simply, pregnancy quite suited the new vampire.

Johnny seemed equally as enthusiastic about the effects too - though for slightly more _male_ reasons.

"What?" He asked in defence when she stared at him after admitting it. "Your boobs _are_ bigger! And your hips too! I mean...you just look so beautiful, Mavy!"

"Is that all you've noticed?" She asked in disbelief. "That certain parts are getting bigger? Really?"

Johnny shook his head quickly, not wanting to upset his hormonal wife. "Of course not!" He ducked his head, somewhat embarrassed. "I mean...I like that you're pregnant, 'cause you glow and you look beautiful and happy and..." He bowed his head even lower. "I love remembering that it's _our_ child, you know? Like, half of you and half of me."

This had, admittedly, softened Mavis up, and she didn't question it further.

As she started to get bigger, she found that her clothes were starting to fit less; this wasn't as great, but she decided to put it behind her. It would only be for a few more months, after all, and then her baby belly would (hopefully) go away. The bump itself was actually quite nice; sometimes, when Mavis felt bored, she would just sit or lie down and stroke it while thinking. She liked feeling the curve of the bump poking out from underneath her clothes, sometimes even being able to feel the baby and it's movements; she giggled whenever the baby hiccupped or kicked, pressing her hands down harder to feel even more.

It was such a great experience that she couldn't keep it to herself for too long.

"Woah! Was that a kick?"

Mavis nodded, resting her hand next to her husband's head and smiling widely. "Yep. They've got a really strong kick - Auntie Wanda says that's a good sign, since it means they're healthy."

Johnny pursed his lips in awe, tongue sticking out slightly as he concentrated. "This is so weird...Oh! Wait! There's another one!" He grinned, mouth hanging slightly open.

"I think they like the sound of your voice," Mavis mused, remembering this fact from a library book she'd looked at recently. "They like mine too...watch...Hey there, little vampire bat!" She directed her words at her stomach, smiling even more. "You comfortable in there?"

A couple of strong kicks against the palms of their hands confirmed this theory.

Johnny seemed amazed by this. "Cool!...Here, let me try..." He cleared his throat and moved his mouth closer to his wife's belly. "Hi, child of mine! You feel like traveling with us anytime soon? Maybe to see your Grandpa and Grandma?"

More kicks could be felt, and Mavis let out a small 'oh' when she felt the baby shift it's position. "I think they like that idea," She giggled, rubbing her stomach with her hands affectionately.

"This is so cool," Johnny repeated, looking quite dazed by the experience. "It's like...they know who we are or something...the kicks feel stronger than my brothers' when they did it...maybe because they're a vampire baby?"

Mavis shrugged - she'd never felt a human baby kick in the womb, so of course she didn't know. "Maybe," She sighed contently.

It was quite amazing to think that their love had created this - this tiny little life that they were now in charge of. Mavis couldn't help but remember what her father had told her when she was little about where babies came from, and she smiled at the thought; it wasn't exactly incorrect, instead just missing a few minor details about the actual activities involved.

Their love had created a little person, someone else in their lives to share love with and cherish. And that, Mavis thought to herself, was the most beautiful thing.


	13. M - Movie

Since the hotel had been built during the nineteenth century, the monsters who inhabited the building were not exactly up to date with all of the modern things that happened; they missed out on theatres, radios, CD and DVD players. Because of this, there were no movies, no pre-recorded music (although, having said that, the band were pretty good and acceptable) or anything modern and new among those lines.

The only thing remotely close to a movie Mavis had ever seen was her Dad's presentations on humans, but that didn't really count - they weren't moving pictures, and they didn't make any noises (apart from the shutter and click as slides changed)...and besides, her Dad's presentations were obviously quite biased and not quite as truthful as they should have been.

It was only when she'd begun her travels with Johnny that she realized what exactly she'd missed out on. Her boyfriend had pulled out his phone while they were waiting at the airport for their first flight and started to show her videos on his phone; she'd been absolutely amazed by them. She'd never seen pictures move like that, as if they were real, and she wanted to see more.

"So...wait..." Johnny said, somewhat confused. "You're telling me that you've _never_ seen a video before?"

Mavis nodded, keeping her eyes on his phone.

"So...that means you've never seen a full-out movie, right?" He continued, severely troubled by such news. "Like, you've never seen a Harry Potter movie, or a horror movie or _anything_?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," She answered, wrinkling her nose up in confusion. "So that's a...a video. What's a movie then?"

"It's like a video..." Johnny scratched his head in thought. "Uhh...yeah, like a video but way longer. It basically tells a whole story - with, like, a beginning, a middle and an end...well, unless there's a sequel, 'cause then they might do a cliffhanger at the end."

"Wait, what?" Mavis looked at him as if he was talking a different language all together. "A...what?"

Johnny put his phone back in his pocket and stared at her in surprise. "You know, a cliffhanger? It's like...the people who make the movie do something really dramatic, like a car crash, but then they don't show the audience what happened after. It's so, like, people watch the sequel."

"A...seagull?" She frowned. "I thought a seagull was a bird...at least, that's what that book in the library said..."

"No, no, no!" He started gesturing wildly, not really sure how to put it. "A _sequel_. It's sort of...the next story after the first movie...sort of like the next chapter of a book!" He hesitated before nodding in confirmation. "Yup. Like chapters in a book."

Mavis sat back in her seat. "Huh. Well, I've never seen a movie, so I wouldn't know."

Johnny couldn't help but shake his head at his girlfriend. "Well, once we get to our hotel room in Hawaii, I'm charging my laptop and finding a movie for us to watch."

This announcement didn't have much of an effect on Mavis; she just shrugged and asked, "What's a laptop?"

Johnny slumped in his seat, giving in. "You'll see."

* * *

True to his word, after their second evening spent sight-seeing in Hawaii, the two returned to their hotel room, ready to watch some movies. The two had been out to the local shops and found some candy (human candy, but Mavis was more than willing to try it) and drinks (again, human drinks, but she didn't mind too much) to munch on during their first movie marathon, in which Johnny would show his girlfriend some of the most popular ones in the human world.

"So, what movies are we watching?" Mavis asked, looking quite cute and comfortable in her pyjamas. She was leaning against the headboard of her boyfriend's bed, one of her own pillows she'd managed to bring from home securely in her arms. "Where are they?"

"I have a few downloaded on here," Johnny said, putting the laptop between them so that they could both see. He logged into the device and started clicking different things on the screen. "That, and I've got a few stored away in my backpack...here we go, we'll watch this one first." He clicked on one and sat back next to his girlfriend.

"And which one is this?"

Johnny grinned. "Your dad will kill me...Twilight."

She couldn't help but give a small laugh. "I see...isn't that the one Dad said was awful, and makes us vampires look stupid?"

"Yeah. It's totally ridiculous, but what better way to start than with something to laugh at?"

The two stopped talking as the movie started. The first half an hour or so seemed okay, Mavis supposed; a little bit cheesy, but nothing too bad or 'stupid'. It was only when the supposed vampires came on that she understood what her father had meant.

"Why are they awake during the day?" She asked, quite puzzled. "And why is he looking at her like that?"

Johnny shrugged. "It's not real - and that look is supposed to be attraction ...or maybe he's trying to look sexy. I'm not really sure."

"But it's not," Mavis stated innocently. "He just looks like he needs to poop bad."

As the movie continued, more and more things started to puzzle Mavis; for one thing, she thought it was pretty obvious that vampires didn't actually drink human blood - sure, it was blood and probably tasted nice, but surely drinking too much of it would make a vampire unhealthy and fat?

"Hold up!" Mavis protested, eyes widening as they reached a certain bit. "Why is he watching her sleep? That's so creepy!"

Johnny nodded in agreement. "Yeah...Personally, I don't get why a girl would want a creepy pale dude watching them sleep overnight. I'd find it pretty weird."

Another part just made the vampire feel plain uncomfortable. "Why is he going out into the sun?" She asked, panicking slightly and cringing. "He's gonna burn up and die!" She paused, looking at her boyfriend worriedly. " _Is_ he gonna burn up and die?"

The red head snorted. "I wish. It's be so much cooler than what really happens."

His comment confused her at first - after all, it was a matter of life and death to her and her father - but then she realized what he was talking about. "Holy rabies! Is this movie serious?" She asked, not sure whether to be insulted or amused. "We do _not_ walk around like...like...like disco balls! That's utterly ridiculous - and misleading!"

"I never thought any of it was true," Johnny said assuringly, shrugging his shoulders. "To be honest, most of us humans can't stand these movies or books - it's totally ruined vampires." He chuckled slightly. "Thank God they didn't put your father or anything in here."

Mavis couldn't help but gag at the thought of her father walking around and looking like a disco ball.

Other various points came up; the "vegetarian" vampire thing, why the vampire (Edward, as Mavis found out his name was) practically stalked her and how that made real vampires look awful, and the fact that, in Mavis' opinion, the conversation between the two characters felt kind of awkward.

"It's the actors," Johnny told her, shrugging as the credits started to roll (finally). "I mean, I know they were totally dating in real life, but they're not exactly...great actors."

"Actors? So...they were pretending?" Mavis asked, getting the hang of some of the things her boyfriend said.

He nodded. "Yeah. Actors are...they do movies and stuff, to tell stories. They get paid for it too. My brother Daniel's an actor, although he hasn't done a lot of work yet..."

"Well then...I don't think the vampire was as bad...although the human could definitely done a lot better." She straightened up, her body aching from being in the same position for so long. "So, the next movie? And not another one of...of _those_."

The human nodded, reaching for his laptop and clicking out of the movie. "Oh, totally - we'll watch a good one...let's see..." He stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth in concentration, looking down the list of movies he'd downloaded. "How about...a Disney film next?"

"Disney?"

"Oh, right." Johnny looked back at his girlfriend, suddenly remembering she had no idea about movies. "Disney is like a film company - they do films for kids, although they're good for adults too."

"Huh. Sounds good."

Johnny looked back at the screen. "Let's see...talking animals...live-action...hey, let's watch this one!" He double-clicked, opening another movie on the player. He sat back, tucking Mavis under his arm, and settled the laptop on their legs steadily. "This one is great - it's called _Up_ , and it's about this old dude, and he goes travelling, and-"

"And I'd like to see it for myself," Mavis interrupted teasingly.

The beginning of the film showed two children - a boy and a girl - meeting; the couple watched them become best friends, planning to go on a trip together, and then how they eventually got married, still saving for their trip to 'Paradise Falls'. Mavis thought this was quite cute, and she could definitely relate to wanting to see the world with the person she loved; she snuggled into her boyfriend even more, though still keeping her eyes on the laptop screen.

The beginning was very happy and cheerful; the colours were bright, representing the positive nature of the opening. Mavis felt her heart lift as she watched this married couple live their lives together, working and watching the clouds...and then came the point where it was obvious, even though no words were being said at this point, that the couple wanted to have children. The man and woman were see painting the room...but then the shot panned out, showing them in front of a doctor; the poster of a pregnant woman's stomach on the wall made it obvious what kind of doctor he was, and the subject of the news he was telling them - the way the woman had her head in her hands also revealed that this news was not good.

"Oh no," Mavis whispered, feeling as though someone was tugging at her heart.

Luckily, it didn't stay too negative for long: the man managed to cheer his wife up by giving her the "Adventure Book" she had kept about all the places she wanted to go to, and this was followed by a montage of them painting on a wall of their future adventures. They started to save up lots of money in a jar for their trip, and it looked like things were going to be alright...well, until they had to use the money to pay for other things, such as flat tires, broken limbs and trees through the roof, but this was mainly light-hearted. The couple got older and older - until they were grey-haired old people with wrinkles. Mavis felt a little disheartened that they hadn't gotten to travel, but decided it didn't matter so much; after all, they had each other and looked quite content with their lives.

But about half a minute later, it became clear that they wouldn't stay like this for much longer; the wife collapsed trying to go up their favourite hill, and she had to go to hospital. The next thing the vampire knew, the old man was sitting on his own at a funeral - his wife's funeral.

As the montage ended, Mavis felt a stream of tears making their way down her cheeks. "C-C-Can we pause it, f-f-for a m-minute?"

Johnny looked at her; it was obvious she needed a moment, so he nodded and paused the film. "I guess it got to you," He said - he sounded quite upset by it too, even though he'd probably seen it before.

Mavis nodded. "They didn't get to travel...it was all they wanted to do...and the thing with the baby...it just looked so real, like it actually happened." She gave a loud sniffle. "This is a _kids_ movie?"

Johnny gave a watery chuckle. "Yeah...all the kids movies are the best when it comes to this kind of thing...they put stuff in that kids won't understand but older people will. I guess it's to get more people to watch."

There was silence for a few more moments where Mavis quickly wiped the tears off her cheeks and composed herself again; she gave a nod to the red head to turn it back on, hoping the rest of the movie wouldn't be so sad. Of course it wasn't; soon the old man had balloons coming out of his roof, carrying him up into the sky with his house...it was obvious this had been planned for a long time, and in his wife's memory. As it turned out, a chubby boy scout had ended up stowing away on the porch, and he provided quite a lot of comedy with the old man. Mavis found herself laughing at various points in the movie because it was so amusing, and the ending was quite happy and cheerful too. In fact, she felt quite disappointed when the credits started to roll because she'd been enjoying it so much.

"That was amazing," Mavis said quietly, tears in her eyes. "I can't believe I've missed out on this kind of thing!"

Johnny couldn't help but smile at how enjoyable his girlfriend had found the experience; it was quite endearing, to say the least. He always took this kind of thing for granted, but seeing her get so much out of it made him very happy. "Yeah, and just think: there's hundreds of films out of there...thousands! All these different stories...okay, some of them kinda suck, but a lot are pretty cool."

They both spared a glance at what the time was on the human's laptop; it was one in the afternoon, and they had to be up in a few hours so that they could get some exploring and sight-seeing done.

"How about we call it a night?" Johnny suggested, starting to get rid of all his open pages. "And we'll watch more tomorrow?"

Mavis had to admit - she felt quite tired, and her eyes were hurting from staring at the screen for so long. "Sure," She yawned, untangling herself from her boyfriend and making her way over to her own bed. Yeah, she wanted to see more movies, but they had lots of time to do that in the future - and besides, she didn't really feel like falling asleep halfway through one, so she guessed it was better to get some rest.

As the couple got into bed and fell asleep, both of them looked forward to their next movie marathon.

* * *

The more and more films they watched, the more they discovered about what kind of movies Mavis preferred; mainly comedies, romance and drama. Oh, and the 'Disney' ones, which were just plain adorable in her eyes. However, much to Johnny's surprise, she didn't really like the films about monsters as much - she decided that some of them were so inaccurate when compared to the monsters back at the hotel, and it made monsters out to be...well, monsters, but the bad and scary kind.

That night was a romance film night - Johnny claimed that he had a lot of romance movies that weren't too cheesy for them to watch (he was a guy, after all, and had to retain some kind of masculinity). "This is totally the love story of the century...well, last century actually..." Johnny shrugged, clearly not sure. "Anyway, this is set back in 1912, and it's about this real boat that sank...but some of the characters in this didn't exist, as far as we know."

Mavis took a bite of her candy, chewing it as she waited for him to finish setting up the film. "And it's definitely a love story, right? What makes it a love story?"

"Oh, you know," Johnny poked his tongue out his mouth, scanning the list of downloaded films for the one he wanted - for some reason, they were in a random order that made it difficult to find anything. "The fact that there's a guy and a girl and they fall in love. Just watch it, and it's totally obvious." He grinned in victory when he found it and turned it on. "When I first saw this, I was...well, it came out when I was six..." He started to count on his fingers, whispering and mumbling under his breath. "I saw _most_ of it when I was ten; I missed the first half an hour, 'cause I was meant to be in bed, but then I had a nightmare. My Mom didn't have the heart to send me to bed, so..." He sat back and put his arm around his girlfriend - after all, it was a romance film, so he was taking full advantage of it. "It's pretty long, I know, but it's a pretty good film."

"Is it gonna make me cry?" Mavis asked. "'Cause if it will, I need a box of tissues or something."

"It's a definite possibility. Now, let's get started!"

 _Titanic_ didn't really look like a love film from the beginning - it started at the bottom of an ocean. This kind of made the vampire a little confused, since how were two people meant to fall in love on a boat that was at the bottom of the ocean? But as the film carried on, Mavis realised the beginning was simply set in the future - the film travelled back in time and showed the ship before it sank later on.

"Who is that?" Mavis asked, her heart thumping beneath her pyjamas as she looked at a young blonde man playing cards when the film flashed back. "He's cute..."

Johnny snorted. "That's good old Leo DiCaprio - lots of girls totally thought he was gorgeous...my Mom included, which is kinda disturbing..." He eyed his girlfriend up. "Please tell me you don't-"

"But he is!" The vampire insisted. "He's _gorgeous_ \- what's the character called?"

"Jack," Johnny answered, voice suddenly taking on a grumpy tone. "Mavis? He doesn't look like that anymore, you know - he's a lot older."

"I know, I know," The vampire sighed, although a small smile was still etched on her face. "So...he's just won tickets to go on this boat...and then that posh lady...oh!"

Johnny just nodded, glad that the conversation had been turned around now. "Uh-huh. Totally obvious that they're gonna be the lovers, huh?"

Her boyfriend hadn't been kidding when he'd said it was long; it must have been an hour or so before it was obvious the poor boy and rich girl (Jack and Rose) had fallen in love; when they shared their scene on the front of the ship and kissed, Mavis felt the urge to kiss Johnny there and then. Instead, she just nuzzled the top of her head into the crook of his neck, reaching so that their hands were entwined.

"I know she's meant to have a rich fiancée," Mavis said quietly. "But I have to admit - Jack is so much better and nicer for her."

"Totally," Johnny agreed, voice soft all of a sudden. "Money can't buy everything, huh?"

Then came the quite embarrassing bits; if she could have blushed, she would have. She didn't really understand why Rose asked Jack to draw her naked except for a necklace, but she supposed it was something that people in love did (again, she didn't get why); still, Jack was a pretty good artist, and the music definitely caused quite a romantic atmosphere. After a brief, entertaining chase between Rose, Jack and the stiff butler-type guy, there was _that_ scene in the carriage.

Mavis' eyes widened when she realized what was going on. "O-kay..."

Johnny had gone as bright red as his hair. "Yeah. That's definitely the worst thing, though..."

"Of all the rooms on that boat, they choose to do it in a carriage?" Mavis questioned, shaking her head. "Although, I suppose you'd need keys to get into all those rooms too...and it's probably a 'in the moment' thing."

"Yeah," Johnny agreed, clearly quite embarrassed about watching this with his girlfriend sitting next to him (by this point they'd done nothing but exchange kisses). Mavis just rolled her eyes slightly and leaned over to kiss his cheek; the human flushed slowly. "You...like romances, huh?"

Mavis nodded eagerly, laughing at his reaction before turning back to see the rest of the film. "Why do I have a feeling it's going to stop being so perfect for them?"

"You've never heard of the _Titanic_?" Johnny asked, puzzled. "But...you were alive when it sank-"

"I never left the hotel, remember?" She couldn't help but sigh slightly - all those years had been wasted, looking back on it...still, she got to do it now with Johnny, which seemed much better than having to do it alone. However, she didn't get to muse on this thought for too long when she realized what her boyfriend had said. "So...the ship's gonna sink?"

Johnny simply nodded. "Yeah. I thought you knew that, since it was on the bottom of the ocean..."

"But it's gonna sink? Like, with people on it?" When her boyfriend just continued to nod, her eyes widened in shock. "So...all these people are going to...drown?"

"Not everyone," Johnny said hurriedly, not wanting her to get upset. He quickly reached his arm out and paused the film, knowing she wouldn't want to miss anything. "They had little lifeboats...you know, you get on them if the big boat sinks to keep out of the water."

"But...but...they said there wouldn't be enough if it sank!" Mavis stated, quite stricken by the news that so many innocent people had died on a boat of all things. "And I thought it was, 'unsinkable'!"

"Yeah...turns out they sucked at building...anyway, it shows you everything later on...and no, not everyone dies."

The two started to play the film again, Mavis watching it and suddenly feeling quite sad at how happy everyone seemed - they didn't know what was coming, and that was the worst thing about it.

The rest of the film seemed to go by too fast and yet torturously slow; it was difficult to watch the different characters struggle and injure each other just so they could get off alive, and yet it seemed that the boat was sinking and filling up with water too fast. Although the romantic atmosphere was now merely a sub-plot in the movie, Mavis found herself cuddling closer and closer to her boyfriend with every bad thing that happened; not that the human minded, of course, since any excuse to snuggle up with his girlfriend was a good one.

Obviously, the end of the movie was an emotional one; Johnny, who had seen it multiple times, just shrugged it off as if it weren't that big a deal - which it wasn't, owing to the fact it was just a film. However, when he looked at Mavis, who had never seen it before, he quickly realized that it had had quite an effect on her.

"Are you okay?" Johnny asked softly, sitting up properly and wincing slightly when his back clicked slightly. When she didn't answer, he yawned and stretched his arms out before talking. "Don't worry, I get it - my Mom totally cries at this film all the time...it's cool if you're sad."

There was a long silence, and the human worried that he'd permanently upset his girlfriend; however, just before he could say anything, Mavis started to shake her head slowly. "No, I'm fine...I just..." She sniffled slightly, but looked at Johnny seriously. "They both could have fit on that raft!"

And Johnny couldn't help it - he laughed at her point, somewhat agreeing with it.

Mavis, however, frowned at him as she misunderstood why he was laughing. "What? It's not funny!"

"No, I k-know!" Johnny snorted, trying to calm himself down so he could talk. "No...it's just...sorry!" He choked slightly on his laugher, very aware that Mavis was starting to glare at him seriously. "Sorry...but...uhh...a lot of people say that after seeing the end, and I just...think it's a good point."

He was an awful liar and they both knew it; still, Mavis smiled and rolled her eyes at him, deciding to take it as an excuse.


	14. N - New

Travelling away from home was an extremely new experience to Johnny.

Don't get him wrong - he and his family had gone on vacations every year to various places in various countries, and it had been fun. He'd been on school trips to different countries to see certain tourist attractions for weekends too, and it had been exciting. But each time he went on one of these vacations or trips before there had been an older person watching over him - his parents, elder brothers, teachers...and this time he was all alone.

It didn't hit him until he'd checked into his hotel room twenty four hours after he'd said goodbye to his parents and brothers. The red-head was used to racing down corridors with his brothers, laughing and giggling while their parents yelled warnings at them; not doing that now seemed strange and odd to him. He was used to his family talking loudly as they opened the door with the key card, not the silence that he was experienced this time now.

Johnny looked around the room as he shut the door, clutching the straps of his backpack tightly; he couldn't help but sigh slightly. It was weird, but he felt kinda alone without someone to talk to.

 _Well...I can't afford hotels forever...maybe I could stay at a youth hostel next time._ The thought cheered him up a little for some reason, and he shrugged his bag off of his shoulders so that he could start disassembling it. He'd been planning to do a lot of camping and staying in hostels anyway - his money would run out pretty quick if he just used fancy hotels all the time, and he needed it for travel costs. The only reason he'd chosen to stay in a hotel that night was because he was way too tired to try and do anything after the long flight - and it'd be warmer too.

Johnny had gotten into bed that night, unable to sleep; half of it was, of course, because of the excitement he was feeling for the next day - he couldn't wait to get up early and start exploring all of the new surroundings - but then the rest of his inability to sleep was because of how nervous he was to be away from home. Like, what if he lost all of his money, or got robbed on the street, or just spent all of it and then ended up stranded with no way home? He tried not to think too much on that point, knowing there wasn't much point in worrying.

It took a while, but it really finally started to pay off; at first, having to travel without a parent or adult figure around was daunting, and he briefly wondered if he'd made the right decision by going so soon. Not to mention that on the first couple of days Johnny found himself getting extremely lost in the busy streets of various cities, not having any navigational skills to speak of, and he wasn't exactly sure where to find a map either.

But after a couple more plane flights and countless nights spent either under the stars or in youth hostels, Johnny finally started to feel more comfortable about travelling on his own. Sure, it kinda sucked that he didn't have any real friends with him, but he didn't exactly have that at home either...and yeah, he missed his family pretty bad too but he knew deep down that they were literally a phone call away if he needed them. Besides, some of the people he met at the youth hostels were completely awesome, and although they didn't exactly become friends or anything, they offered to take him around the forests and cities in case he got lost. He found that he gradually started to miss home less and less, until all of his thoughts were focused on where he was travelling or where he could go next. Johnny started to think about all the new people he'd get to meet too, and all of the adventures to be had out in the world.

Overall, though, he learnt that not all new things were particularly bad things - sure, they were often scary, as new things tend to be, but after initial shock they could end up being much better than expected.

* * *

They agreed to make the announcement on the third day after their arrival - this allowed the couple some time to bond (or, in Johnny's case, re-bond) with Johnny's family so that they'd see what Mavis was really like before they jumped to conclusions because of her...status as a monster.

Put simply, Mavis _adored_ her boyfriend's family, in particular his mother. Having never had her own mother, the woman's kind and affectionate attitude towards the vampire made them immediately get along - hell, Jean didn't even seem to mind her slightly odd sleeping patterns too much, and made sure to have some kind of 'brunch' ready for when she woke up on those two days.

"What time do you go to sleep, sweetie?" Jean asked, chuckling slightly and shaking her head bemusedly.

"Late," Mavis yawned evasively; in truth, she stayed up until around four in the morning and woke at around noon. It was slightly odd, sleeping when it was dark outside still and being awake when the Sun was up, but she put up with it for her fiancée.

Because she obviously couldn't go out in the sunlight, Johnny had cleverly explained to his family that she couldn't be outside because of her "allergy to the Sun", comparing it to a film Mavis hadn't heard of. However, it had worked, although she was now resigned to sitting indoors feeling quite exhausted.

"Must be boring," Jake - the youngest brother - commented on the first day after their arrival and sitting next to her on the couch somewhat cautiously. "Not getting to go out, I mean. How did you guys even travel?"

"We just went at night," Mavis answered, somewhat nervously; she'd been rehearsing possible answers to questions since their trip had been booked, just in case. "I can still manage if the Sun's not out, I guess..."

"Going to Hawaii must have been difficult," Jake said, looking somewhat impressed by the fact they'd managed it with her 'condition'. "It's one of the sunniest places around, you know."

The vampire shrugged slightly. "Not really - I mean, it wasn't really that hard. We saw tons of great stuff at night - the fireworks, the parties, the music shows...all the good stuff happens overnight."

After an hour or so of talking to the youngest brother, the two seemed to be on quite good terms; Mavis found out that Jake wanted to create things called 'comic books' in the future, which was what he was studying at college currently. The vampire listened, absolutely fascinated as he described what this job would entail (it was basically a story told with pictures and things called 'speech bubbles'), and he even went on to describe some of his previous pieces of artwork.

"Can you show me?" Mavis asked eagerly - and she wasn't just asking to be nice either. She was genuinely interested in everything he was telling her.

Jake grinned slowly and nodded his head. "Sure. I'll just go get my sketchbook."

As it turned out, all of the brothers seemed to have a wide range of different talents: the eldest Matt was a lawyer who now resided in Chicago (Mavis quite liked the idea of someone helping to put bad people in prison) with his girlfriend; James was a journalist living in New York; Daniel only lived down the street, and he was trying to get some work as an actor. After Johnny there were his three younger brothers: the twins and Jake. Chris and Carl went to different colleges and studied different things; Chris had been given a football scholarship to a college in Kentucky, while Carl was studying media to be a movie director in Chicago. Because his college was in Chicago, he was currently staying with Matt and his girlfriend to save money. Jake, of course, was studying Art and Design at the local college, and so continued to live with his parents.

"And what about Johnny?" Mavis asked, intrigued while she looked over Jake's drawings in detail. They were good - in fact, they were _fantastic_. She briefly wondered if she could get him to do a few pictures to decorate the hotel with before turning back to the conversation, since she was sure her Dad would like a way to add modern touches to the hotel. "What did he study?"

Jake shrugged and sighed. "Nothing. He started traveling as soon as he graduated High School...although," He amended thoughtfully. "I bet if he ever decides to go to college, he'll study music or something - have you ever heard him sing or play?"

"Yeah...my birthday."

His face dawned in slight recognition. "Oh yeah! He told me that he wrote a song for a girl over the phone...I totally didn't realize it was you!"

"He's great," Mavis stated - and she wasn't just saying that because he was her zing. "He's not much of a dancer though."

Jake snorted. "No, definitely not," He agreed, nodding his head. "He could have totally been a great rock star or whatever - he would have loved getting to play _and_ going all over the world at the same time..."

Mavis suddenly felt guilty; she knew that her fiancée's plans consisted of changing him, getting married and maybe some more traveling. College was not anywhere in their plans, and it was because of her. He wouldn't get the chance to study and create music, to rock out all over the world...

Jake seemed to have realized what had happened when she went silent. "But I don't think that's what he actually wanted," He continued quickly, and the vampire looked up at him. "Yeah...I remember him saying that it was cool and stuff - but he just wanted to travel. Not surprising really, considering how many of us there were in this house growing up."

Plans changed, she realized. Sure, maybe he had liked playing music and entertaining others, and he'd been good at it - but now he - they - had different things to look forward to in their future; new things that were much more exciting for both of them.

"We're getting married," She said quietly, not sure if he knew already.

Jake stared at her left hand, eyes wide and fixed on the ring. "Huh. Out of the seven of us, I never expected Johnny to be the first to get married...Hell, the way his love life was before he left none of us thought he'd _ever_ do it. You must be special."

Mavis shrugged and smiled knowingly to herself. "Hmm...I think you could definitely say that."

"He really likes you - obviously," Jake continued, going red when he realized what he was saying. "Like...he looks happy around you...I know that sounds stupid and obvious, but it's the truth." The youngest brother sighed slightly but grinned at her. "You seem cool - I guess he has better taste than we thought." He paused for a moment, hesitating as if he were scared of saying the wrong thing. "I guess I should say...Welcome to the family."

Mavis couldn't help but pull him into a hug; she had a family back home, people whom she cared about and loved deeply, who loved her back. That was what a family was to her. The thought of having another new family who she loved so much already, and were starting to like her (even if they hadn't heard about the vampire thing yet) made the vampire feel fuzzy and warm inside, and she sincerely hoped that it would stay like this.


	15. O - Optimism

Put simply, Johnny didn't let a lot bother him. It wasn't that he didn't care - no, he just didn't let things get to him as easily as it did with other people. Of course, while most would consider this a blessing, it could also be a hinderance when others are involved.

When Johnny had been six, he'd had to start wearing glasses because of his dreadful eyesight - it got so that he couldn't even see writing if it was three meters in front of him. This didn't actually bother him of course; no, he thought of it like a cool superhero accessory - a bit like x-ray glasses. Besides, hardly anyone in his class had glasses, so it made him feel quite special and important. However, poor Johnny wasn't exactly all that popular when he first started school, and the addition of glasses just fuelled the other kids teasing as the year went on.

The boys had started by calling him names, and he'd shrugged it off; the other boys got more frustrated at being ignored and started to resort to more physical measures of teasing him - to be exact, shoving him around until he tripped. The result had been skinned palms, bloody knees and a very twisted, broken pair of glasses; he was lucky that no shards of glass got into his eyes (although a couple had got into his hands when he tried to stand himself up, which required a very short but painful visit to the local hospital).

"Who did this to you?" His mother had asked sternly, putting a plaster over one of the cuts on his kneecaps.

Johnny shrugged. "Some boys. They were totally just playing, Mommy, and I got in the way. You know how clumsy I am."

His mother, although not believing it herself, realized that he probably seemed to believe it himself. "Johnny, honey," She said gently, smoothing down a few wild tufts of his hair. "I somehow doubt that this was entirely an accident. Which boys was it, honey? You can tell me."

Johnny said nothing, fearing that it would just get worse if he told - the other boys would never like him then, and he really just wanted friends.

Jean sighed. "Fine. We're going to the hospital to get your hands checked - and then we need to buy you a new pair of glasses."

The next morning at school, Johnny had walked into the playground during Recess, clutching his backpack with bandaged hands and squinting around with his new glasses; he spotted some boys playing a few metres away, and headed towards them. "Hi!" He called, a grin on his face. "I'm Jonathan! Can I play?"

The other five year old boys looked at each other; a few of them had been the ones teasing him recently, but Johnny felt that if he was nice then maybe they'd be nice back. "Sorry," One of them said, smirking down at him. "We don't play with people like you, four-eyes."

The red-head just continued to pursue a friendship with them, grinning excitedly. "Oh, I don't have four-eyes! Why would you think that? That's so silly!"

"Look," Another one interjected, shaking his head. "We don't want to hang out with you, alright? Please go away!"

Johnny blinked, his smile fading. "Oh. But...I want to play. I have a really cool game we could play - I play it with my brothers all the time! Basically, we could go travelling around the world!" He pointed to the trees at the edge of the field excitedly. "See, that's the forest, and we could go looking for deer and these real cool birds-"

"That's a baby game," The first one sneered. "Now, go away, you freak!" He stepped forwards and shoved Johnny away from their group, causing the other boys in the group to snicker loudly.

As expected, the red-head needed another trip to the optician.

Nevertheless, he tried again and again. While his glasses were lucky and didn't get broken anymore, he wasn't so: his legs were soon covered in cuts and bruises from taking so many shoves each week, and his palms were sore from being used to break his falls. One would think that he would get the picture and give up pretty quickly - but Johnny was not a quitter. He was determined to make some new friends to explore the playground with him, and he tried day after day to find some other children willing to do so with him.

"I can't," One girl said kindly while her friends giggled loudly at him. "I don't want to get my dress dirty - my Grandma made it for me for school."

"That's okay," Johnny sighed - at least she had a good excuse. "If you feel like joining me one day then you can."

Another few kids, particularly the older ones, just snorted and laughed at him. "Wow," The leader of one group chuckled. "Look what we've got here, a tiny little explorer...is your name Dora, ginger?"

"No, it's Jonathan," Johnny replied cheerfully, completely oblivious to the fact they were making fun of him. "And I need explorers for my trip to the forest-area over there. Would you like to come?"

Another older kid stepped forwards, raising his eyebrows as he thought of something. "You want to go travelling and exploring, huh?" Johnny nodded, his grin widening - maybe this boy would come with him and convince his friends! "I have a better idea."

Before Johnny could so much as blink, the older boy had snatched his glasses from his face. "Hey! I need those!"

The boy's friends laughed loudly. "I'm gonna throw these into that little 'forest', as you call it, and you have to retrieve it. Got it?"

With that, he reached his arm back and flung the glasses into the trees on the field, much to the red-head's horror. "Go on," The first child sneered. "Go get them!"

Before Johnny could move, however, the bell rung, signalling the end of Recess. "Oops!" The second boy laughed sarcastically. "Too late now, then, isn't it?"

The five year old had no choice but to wait until his lunch break later that day; he had to struggle for the next hour and a half without them, unable to read off the board properly. Half of his sums in Math ended up being wrong, thanks to this, and he was pretty sure he'd mis-spelt the date too. As soon as the bell rung again to signal the beginning of lunch, Johnny had raced outside with his backpack bouncing up and down, not even bothering to eat lunch first in the hall with the rest of his classmates. He feared what his parents would say if he went home without his glasses, and he needed them for the afternoon as well because they were watching a film.

When he got to the trees at the edge of the field, however, he realized he didn't even know where to start - unsure, he walked around the trees, head ducked down to find his missing possession. Unfortunately, due to the fact his glasses were gone and he couldn't see a thing, the only indication he got as to the location was when he heard a _crack_ and realized he'd stepped on the glasses.

This had been the breaking point - literally. He'd gone home that day, ignoring his mother's questions as to what had happened, and then gone with his parents to get the broken accessory replaced _again_. However, as soon as he'd said goodbye to his mother the next morning at the gate, he'd stuffed his glasses into his jacket pocket carefully before going to meet his classmates. Although he knew he'd just have to put them back on again for lessons, he decided it would be best to not to wear them if he was going to try and make friends; for some reason, people didn't like them, and if he wanted friends...

Eventually, he decided it would be better to just not wear the glasses in general anymore; he took to wearing contact lenses instead, although it _did_ take a while to learn to put them in properly.

Of course, all of this cannot be blamed solely on the poor eyesight of someone; he found that things still flew over his head all the time, mainly because of his innocent and optimistic nature. He firmly believed that there was good in all people, and that it was possible to be friends with anyone if he just put his mind to it; with some people, it actually worked and he won them over so that he had a few friends he could rely on to explore with him. Other people, however, weren't so nice - to this, he decided to just keep away from them and maybe ask them again later when they looked less angry about things.

It wasn't as if it could be helped; being optimistic was just a part of his personality, as much as being red-haired was a part of his physical appearance. And besides, being optimistic wasn't all that bad - why bother being miserable about something? It wouldn't help - no, Johnny had firmly decided that a smile went way further than unhappy tears, so he tried to see the optimism in all things he experienced in life.

And besides, optimism wasn't that negative a trait to have overall.

* * *

The words 'I think there's something wrong' are never a good thing to hear - it's even worse when they come from someone close to you, and it's the _worst_ when the person talking to you is your worried pregnant wife.

One could easily understand why Johnny immediately stiffened up, eyes wide with worry as he looked at Mavis when he heard this sentence come out of her mouth. Lucy didn't even look up, blissfully unaware that her father was distracted from their game. "What? You mean with the baby?"

Mavis looked away, blue eyes trained on their small daughter on the floor. "I think so."

"Well...what makes you think that?" The red-head asked, trying to relax a little - if something _was_ wrong (and he severely hoped it wasn't) then he needed to try and remain calm for both himself and his wife.

"I just...I feel so ill," The dark-haired vampire muttered, woozily lowering herself onto a chair. Her hands rested on top of her swollen stomach, stroking it worriedly. "More ill then I did before...I mean, I shouldn't be throwing up still...and my stomach just _hurts_."

Johnny frowned to himself, unsure of what to do. Lucy looked between her two parents, picking up on the slight tension in the conversation, and reached her arms out impatiently for one of her parents to pick her up. "Cuddle?" She requested, blinking her wide blue eyes hopefully. Johnny reached over and did so before standing, knowing that Mavis properly wouldn't want to try standing up yet, what with the pregnancy and such.

"I think we need to call your Dad," He decided slowly, thinking hard. "Or is there a monster doctor we can go to? I don't think a human one would...err...quite understand as well."

"I guess there is," She murmured, sighing slightly. "There's probably a nurse or someone at the hotel that we could ask..."

"Or Wanda. She's had, like, tons of kids," Johnny added helpfully, just as his daughter decided it would be fun to start tugging at his hair. "Ow! Ow! Ow! You've got quite a - ow! - strong grip there! Ow!"

Lucy just giggled loudly, pulling even harder.

"I know it's messy," He managed, sending her a jokey grin. "But you don't need to - ow! - try to pull it all out, missy!"

"Come play?" She requested, her grip loosening slightly.

Knowing it was the only way to stop her from pulling out every hair on his head, Johnny nodded quickly - he needed to finish this conversation with Mavis anyway. "Yeah! Just give me a sec, alright?"

He put Lucy down on the floor and she crawled away to prepare for the future play session. Parenting duties put on hold for now, Johnny turned back to Mavis and sat down opposite her in another chair. She looked like she was about to burst into tears, and he gave her a grin to try and cheer her up. "Don't worry about it," He said soothingly, reaching out and grabbing her hand in his; he squeezed it tightly, hoping that some of his hopefulness and optimism would rub off on her. "Seriously - go and take a nap. You're probably just tired or something - I mean, we've got Lucy already, and she's definitely no angel..."

"Maybe you're right," Mavis agreed, trying to smile but instead showing a grimace instead.

Johnny helped her stand up, careful as he could be, and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. "I'll call Wanda at some point," He promised her assuringly. "Just in case. But it's probably just stress or something, so don't worry, Mavy. Worry is bad for both you and the baby, remember?"

"I know," She said, rolling her eyes slightly at her husband. "You keep on saying that, Mister Expert."

"I had three little brothers growing up," He defended. "I just know...like I know everything will be okay now. Now, go get some rest before you collapse or something."

Of course he wasn't exactly one hundred percent sure that everything would be okay - he wasn't a doctor, after all, and he could barely remember his brothers being born besides a few scraps of shaky memories. But, as he often thought to himself, a little optimism wouldn't hurt, especially in this case; if it calmed Mavis down even a little bit, then it would be doing some good for her and their baby.

"Johnny? I think our daughter's getting impatient."

Johnny snapped out of his thoughts and nodded; he could put aside all bad thoughts for now and play with their daughter for a little while. It wouldn't hurt to put off the phone call an hour or so, especially since distracting Lucy would hopefully take some pressure off of Mavis. "On it! Now, go and rest before I have to force you."


	16. P - Parent

Most people had initially been concerned when they found out that the world-famous Count Dracula was having a child; after all, he was _the_ Count Dracula, one of the most high-profile monsters in their world. The thought of him having a child seemed completely unnatural to most, and the monster world was soon gossiping like crazy.

"He's probably hoping for a boy," Most of the monsters had whispered amongst themselves. "Someone who can follow in his footsteps. That's probably the only reason why."

"Maybe that wife of his begged and managed to convince him," Another group had thought out loud. "He probably won't have much to do with the child, whatever it is, when they arrive."

These theories seemed to calm down the concerns and surprise; of course he would want a son, someone to train and pass all of his knowledge on to, no big deal. Hell, he might not even bother with it once they arrived for all they knew. But when Martha had gone into labour on a cold September evening and delivered a little girl, whom they named Mavis, the whispers started up again immediately.

_He's probably disappointed._

_Oh. A girl? Wonder how he'll handle that then._

_That poor child._

They were all wrong of course. Dracula had been positively _ecstatic_ to have a daughter with his wife; a little girl who was just as beautiful as her mother, a little vampire princess he could spoil senseless...a daughter that he could protect forever. In fact, he was pretty sure that within the first twenty four hours of the baby girl's life he'd held her more than her mother (not that Martha minded too much, since she was extremely exhausted...and besides, the sight of her husband holding their child was adorable). There was just something about the feel of Mavis' tiny body wrapped safely in his arms, her eyes looking up at him blearily to take him in.

When Martha died, it broke Dracula's heart – not only was his love dead, but he was left to bring up their daughter by himself in this dangerous world full of hateful humans. He greatly feared for both his and Mavis' lives, for they had no safe home to return to while the sun rose high in the sky.

For the first day after the fire, Dracula had to travel and stay with a fellow monster friend of his who lived a few miles away, far from any human villages. Trying to get not just himself but Mavis over to the little house proved difficult – newborn vampires couldn't just change into bats immediately, and the Count was terrified of dropping her if he flew in his bat form with her in his talons. Besides that, he couldn't just stroll casually through more villages and a forest with a baby vampire in his arms (and his cape and teeth would have given it away too).

 _I'm a mess,_ he thought to himself sadly as Mavis started to cry. "Oh no! No...my little baby, don't cry! Daddy's here to protect you!"

Mavis wanted Martha, that much was obvious; she wanted to be burrowed into her mother's soft and warm chest, to be cradled and soothed by a mother's sweet voice. As much as she loved her father, sometimes a baby just needed their mother.

 _What am I going to do?_ Dracula thought helplessly as he started to pace through the trees of a forest; he didn't know exactly where to go, instead just heading in the general direction of his friend's house.

"Mavy...please stop crying..." He took a deep breath and held her against his chest. "I promise, I'll look after you my little bat. Once we find a safe place to stay, I'll...I shall build us an even safer home..." His mind started to race, and the words started to come out like vomit. "I shall build us a hotel – that way all of our monster friends will be safe too. Yes, it will be far away from the nasty humans..."

After a few minutes of his rambling, Mavis' cries started to quieten – before too long, she was in a deep sleep, sucking on her thumb peacefully. Dracula smiled down at her as he continued walking – at least he still had Mavis with him. The Count sped up a little bit; the Sun was definitely starting to rise, and he needed to get both himself and his daughter away from it.

As he travelled, however, he found his mind occupied with the hotel he had been describing for Mavis; he and Martha had talked about it before...before the tragedy, about having a safe place for monsters. A safe place for them to raise their daughter and any future children they had (the thought of that option being gone now was upsetting too). After recent events, Dracula felt the sudden urge to make this place real – a way of honouring his late wife _and_ preventing something like this from ever happening again, not just to his daughter but to any monster out there.

 _Martha,_ he thought, looking up to the sky sadly. _I will do it. I shall build this hotel - for you and for our little Mavis._

* * *

One of the hardest things a parent has to do is to let go; there is a day in the life of every parent where they have to let their child go in some way or another. For some, the first sign is when they first take their little one to playschool or kindergarten, their first proper day away from home and loved ones. For others it doesn't really register until they've seen their children grow up and start their own lives with others that their job as a parent is no longer needed.

For Dracula, seeing Mavis go off traveling was the first time he felt that he was losing his daughter - and he didn't like it one bit.

As much as he wanted to, he didn't beg for her to stay at the hotel or anything like that; she had to start her own life, learn to take care of herself and grow as a vampire. But these thoughts didn't make it any easier on him, and he found himself thoroughly saddened when the evening of her and Johnny's departure arrived a week after her one-hundred and eighteenth birthday.

"Well, that's everything," Johnny had said cheerfully, managing to stuff their two over-filled backpacks into the trunk of a hearse to take them to an airport. "Guess we better say goodbye."

Dracula had been standing at the revolving doors of the hotel and watching sadly with his cape drawn around him protectively, like a security blanket. He watched his daughter and Johnny laugh and joke around happily, clearly looking forward to their adventures around the world; he felt his heart start to hurt at the prospect of losing his only family now, and wished he could go back to simpler times when he was the only person his daughter needed.

Mavis came running up the steps to him, looking quite breathless - it was clear she couldn't wait to get going. But then there was a second where she paused, and it slipped away; instead, she looked at her father nervously, as if hesitant about saying anything to him. "Dad? We're going now."

Dracula just nodded and straightened up; if he had to say goodbye, he wanted to at least make the most of it. "Yes, of course." He wrapped Mavis in his arms tightly, as if doing so would make time go back and turn his daughter back into a toddler. "You will have fun, my little bat, I can tell."

Mavis nodded, wrapping her arms around him too. "I know, Dad. Johnny said we're going to Hawee-wee first - I can't wait to see it! He said that there's going to be fireworks and fire-eaters and-"

"And stay safe," Dracula mumbled, hugging her to him tighter. "I have to admit, I do not like the idea of anything with the word 'fire' in it, but..." He shook his head, trying to clear it so he'd say the right thing. "But I guess I shall have to trust Johnny."

"But you don't."

The older vampire chuckled. "No, not completely. But he knows what he's doing, so I have to." He took a deep breath and pulled away to look at his daughter properly. He couldn't believe how grown up she was now - it seemed like last year he was reading her tales of nasty humans who wanted to take her candy and bite her precious little toes, and now...now she was a grown vampire about to explore the world with her zing. "You'll call the hotel every morning before you go to sleep?"

Mavis nodded. "Of course, Dad."

"And you'll make sure to stay out of the sun," He continued as if she hadn't answered already. "And to stay away from garlic and wooden stakes?"

Mavis just nodded again.

"Then I suppose you're ready to go." He gave her a smile and bent down to kiss her forehead affectionately. "Good luck on your travels, Mavy - I love you."

Normally, Mavis wouldn't really want her father to kiss her or tell her that he loved her (seriously? She wasn't eighty three anymore!) - but she was already missing her father a lot, and it'd be the last time she saw him in a while. "I love you too, Dad," She murmured, giving him one last quick hug. "We'll be back for Christmas or something, alright?"

Well, at least he had something to look forward to now. "Of course," He agreed enthusiastically, patting her hand affectionately.

As she stepped away from him and went inside to say goodbye to a few of the guests, Dracula had one more person to say a goodbye to; he zoomed over to Johnny, who was leaning against the hearse and had been watching the exchange from afar. Even though he'd been watching, he still jumped a little when the Count appeared next to him within a second, as if out of nowhere. "Oh, uh...hey, Drac!"

Dracula regarded the messy-haired human for a moment, wondering what was the best approach to this conversation. "Yes, Good Evening to you too, Johnny." He cleared his throat, making sure to make eye contact with the human. "You will do something for me, Johnny - and if you don't then I _will_ suck your blood out until you look like a deflated whoopee-cushion. Do you understand?"

Johnny simply stared at him with wide eyes.

"You'll look after my daughter," Dracula continued, his posture slouching a little as it became more personal. "You _will_ make sure she has fun on these travels, and you _will_ look after her to the very best of your ability. If she gets hurt in the slightest way..." He trailed off, leaving the threat hanging in the air. "She is my daughter, Johnny - the only family I have left. I've taken care of her since she was born, but now it is your turn."

To his surprise, Johnny just smiled. "Duh! Do you really think I'd let anything happen to her? I love her, man - I care just as much as you do." His smile faded for a moment. "Will you really suck all my blood out, though?"

"Only if something happens to her," Dracula promised, voice light as if he wasn't talking about murdering his daughter's boyfriend. "I mean it, Johnny-"

"I know, I know!" The human interrupted quickly. "Take good care of her...and I totally will, Drac."

There was something about the light in Johnny's eyes that convinced Dracula; satisfied, the Count nodded and gave him a smile. "Okay then. Well, have a good trip - remember, no sunlight or garlic! And...and make sure you both have fun."

"Oh, we will," Johnny laughed, grinning excitedly. "Mavis is gonna love every minute of it, I swear. I'll make sure to get you a little something in Hawaii - it's where you met your wife, right?"

"Yes," Dracula answered softly, somewhat touched by this act of generosity. "Thank you, Johnny."

Although Dracula wasn't quite ready to let go of his daughter, he felt comfortable in the knowledge that she would be safe and in good hands - even if those hands _were_ somewhat clumsy and belonged to a human.

* * *

Johnny, similar to his father-in-law with Mavis, _adored_ Lucy from the moment she entered the world.

Don't get him wrong, he'd loved her even when he hadn't known that she was a she, and even when he'd been shocked by the news of his impending fatherhood. But there was something about really seeing her in the flesh that sealed the deal.

He wouldn't have cared what the gender the baby would have been; the fact that he and Mavis were even having a child was somewhat of a miracle in itself (to him anyway). Okay, yes, he _had_ thought from time to time in those last few months how cool it would have been to have a son who he could play games and rock out with – but he had also thought about how _awesome_ it would be to have a daughter who would be every bit as beautiful and smart as her mother.

Lucy was quite simply the perfect mix of him and Mavis: she had inherited Johnny's red tufty hair that stuck up and freckles, but her eyes, nose and mouth were definitely from her mother. She was utterly tiny too – Johnny felt sure he'd break her with his clumsiness if he wasn't too careful, so he made sure to watch his movements whenever he was around her.

There was something about having a daughter that made Johnny content and proud; the fact he'd helped create this amazing little person was astonishing. Besides that, he couldn't help but love the fact that he had someone to protect and care for – someone who could depend on him. Just like he'd guessed, she looked quite similar to Mavis, even as a new-born; the shape of her face, eyes and other facial features were scarily accurate when compared to her mother's.

He sung his daughter lullabies – some just softcore versions of songs he liked, others he made up on the spot. He'd wake up during the day to her cries, and quick as a flash race to her room so that he could pick her up and sing to her. It wasn't completely selfless, admittedly, because he loved singing anyway, so it was sort of an excuse to sing all the time; his daughter loved it, and it definitely calmed her down so she started to sleep again. Mavis would join in sometimes, making it even better: it was no secret that she could sing, of course, and she was much better at singing lullabies than he was - it was probably something to do with the fact that Johnny was more used to singing up-beat rock or rap songs than delicate ones for a baby.

He may not have been the richest or smartest or smoothest - and definitely not the most graceful - vampire out there, but he would totally fight for the title of the luckiest and happiest one.

* * *

Over the years, it is common for a couple to have more than one child, and Johnny and Mavis were no exception. Once they started their family they wanted to complete it (not immediately though), and although they agreed they were definitely not going to have seven like Johnny's mother had, they decided that somewhere around two or three was an acceptable number.

In the end, they had three; there was Lucy, of course, who was the eldest and an unexpected but welcomed surprise to them. After she turned thirteen (looking no older than two in human years), the couple found that they were expecting another baby, much to their excitement - however, it wasn't as easy as the first pregnancy, and there had been a few rough spots.

"It'll be fine," Johnny had assured Mavis, once again pushing her gently to sit down on the couch in their living room. "But you need to stop worrying, Mavy, and sit down."

"But it's so boring!" She complained, glaring at him while she reached to stroke her stomach - she missed being able to fly and have fun. "At least let me walk around to stretch my legs, Johnny. It won't hurt the baby to get some fresh air either, you know."

Johnny sighed, trying to think of a compromise. "Fine. But you don't leave the house without me - we'll just have to bring Lucy with us or something."

"I'm sure my Dad won't mind baby-sitting," Mavis said hopefully. "I mean, she could just sit in his office while he does paperwork...and I'm sure some of the guests would love looking after her too."

It was definitely a possible solution, so the red-haired vampire just nodded. "Yeah, totally. But for now you need to stay put - just in case."

Luckily, Johnny had been right when he'd said everything would be okay - although the possibility of this prediction being wrong had worried the couple enough to contact not just Wanda but also Dracula, Johnny's mother and a monster doctor who'd been staying at the hotel for a few weeks. During the end of February their second baby was born - this time a son who they named Jack.

Physically, Jack was a contrast to his elder sister; from the fuzzy dark hair on his head to the handsome facial features so obviously inherited from his father, they were completely different - and yet, they were both a perfect combination of their parents. Unlike his sister, he wasn't that fussy a baby and he didn't cry as much - Mavis secretly thought that this was a clear indication that he'd take after his father in personality and be quite happy-go-lucky too. This theory was soon proven correct when, as soon as he could, Jack took to crawling around his surroundings to explore things; this wasn't so bad when it took place in their home, but when they brought him to the hotel to visit some of the other monsters...this was a bit of a problem.

They hadn't planned on having a third child - two had seemed like enough, especially since Lucy and Jack were quite a handful once they knew how to fly, and then there was the general curiosity that all children experience growing up too, causing the couple's hands to be quite full when it came to raising them. But, of course, life has a way of twisting things around.

It was just after Jack turned fifty-nine (similar to a human's age of nine) that the warning signs started to appear again - the throwing up, the cravings...having been through this all before, Mavis immediately knew what was up, and immediately contacted one of the medical monsters who worked at the hotel - after all, she knew them well, and it didn't take long to arrange a time for her to be checked over. Of course, it was only a matter of days before she found out that their family was indeed being expanded further.

Johnny, being from a large family, had barely blinked when she'd blurted it out one morning before they went to sleep - although when he spoke he did seem kinda surprised. "Again? Well, I totally didn't see that coming..."

Mavis was sure she would have blushed at his comment if she could have. "Yeah. So...another baby."

"Another couple of decades of crying and screaming," Johnny joked, giving her an easy grin. "I just didn't think there'd be such a big age gap if we had another one, you know?" Although, having said that, there was about fifteen (human) years between his eldest brother and his youngest one, which was pretty big for humans - he still didn't know what the vampire equivalent would be. "You're happy, right?"

Mavis nodded. "Of course! I mean, it does mean we have to put off traveling again for a while...but we could probably go on holiday next year anyway, so it's not that big a deal. You?"

"Mavy, I grew up with six brothers - three kids aren't even half of that," He laughed, eyes bright all of a sudden. Something told him he wouldn't be sleeping much that day, and he doubted Mavis would as well after such great news. "I guess there's only one thing for it now..."

"I'm not betting on the gender of the baby!" Mavis couldn't help but roll her eyes at such a suggestion. "I mean, does it really matter?"

"No," Johnny amended quickly, knowing now that because his wife was pregnant he had to be extra careful not to annoy her. "Of course not. But it's still fun to do, you know?"

She didn't have to know about the betting he'd done with her Uncles at the hotel - it was all a bit of fun between monsters.

This baby was born in mid-January - another little baby girl, whom they named Mina. It was Johnny who had come up with this name; he'd remembered the name from the infamous novel concerning a certain vampire he knew, and then looked up the meaning in a book about baby's names - and he'd, ironically, fallen in love with it.

"I think it's perfect," He'd stated one morning before their second daughter had been born, one hand on the growing baby bump on Mavis' stomach and another wrapped around his wife so that they were snuggled together with no room. "It means 'love', Mavy - literally! How cool is that?"

Not everyone in the house had acted as enthusiastically to the new arrival, however; Jack avoided both his parents and his newest sister for weeks, choosing to sit on the ceiling in his room and read instead of spending time with the baby. Lucy, however, had taken to Mina exceptionally well and was soon spending most of her time helping to take care of the youngest child - she _loved_ kids, especially little ones, and had plenty of experience with them from her visits to the hotel with the various monsters and their families.

Three kids, Mavis and Johnny decided, were definitely enough; it was sort of an even balance between the different upbringings the couple had experienced themselves. Johnny had been raised as one of seven while Mavis had been raised an only child - being an only child, as some people may know, can be quite lonely, but being raised with too many siblings can make a child feel somewhat ignored or unheard. Three was somewhere in the middle and just about perfect - and the two vampires didn't think that they could handle anymore children running around anyway, especially after seeing how Wayne in particular had coped with his large amount of pups.

No, they agreed between them one morning as the sun rose. Their family was definitely complete.


	17. Q - Questions

Johnny took a deep breath, pacing the hotel room nervously and toying with a particular object in his pocket. Occasionally the human would catch sight of himself in the mirror, and then pause before tugging uselessly at his wild hair in an attempt to flatten it down.

_Okay...I asked Drac before we left, just to be sure, and he was okay with it...well, after about a minute of going into shock...at least I bothered to do it right. So it's gold and not silver - the thing about vampires being allergic to silver must be true, since Dracula wears a gold ring-_

His thought process was interrupted by the sound of the room door opening; Johnny looked up and saw Mavis closing the door and beaming brightly at him. "Hey!" She greeted cheerfully. "It's a beautiful night. I was thinking that maybe we could go out somewhere – somewhere private and with a great view, so we can see the stars!"

Johnny blinked, eyes wide from the fear he had built up inside of himself. "Uhh...sure!" He agreed; a starry night seemed a much more romantic setting than a hotel room, and he felt his body relax a little – for now. "You got anywhere in mind?"

Ten minutes later the couple were sitting on top of the roof of their hotel; the air was warm, thanks to the high temperatures that the Italy experienced, even at night. The sun had set, and a warm glow was emulating from a nearby city; the view of the Grand Canal was almost as stunning as the sight of the sparkling stars in the sky, the long body of water stretching out for miles before them.

"One night, we've got to go on one of those boats," Mavis commented in awe, leaning her head on her boyfriend's shoulder and sighing with content. "I think it'd be so romantic...and imagine all the different places you'd see on the trip!"

Johnny just hummed in agreement - even the beautiful sights of Venice were doing nothing to calm down his nerves, but he didn't want to give anything away to his girlfriend too soon.

"Are you alright?" Mavis asked suddenly, surprising him out of his nervous thoughts. She lifted her head from his shoulder and frowned slightly. "You're being quiet...did you want to do something else?"

"No," Johnny said quickly, stumbling over his words slightly. "I was just thinking that...that it's a nice night."

Mavis didn't look too convinced by this explanation. "Right..."

"I'm just really happy to be here," Johnny continued, rambling without thinking too much. "Like, I'm happy to be here with you in _Italy_ of all places and...and yeah. Stuff like that."

As his girlfriend looked away, he knew he'd have to act soon - he really didn't want her to be annoyed at him for being stand-offish, especially since that would put a bit of a downer on the evening. Johnny closed his eyes and took a deep breath - he could do this. He'd faced some quite scary stuff in his life, but nothing seemed to compare to how he was feeling at that moment.

_Okay. Here we go._

"Mavis," He said quietly, pulling away from her and moving to sit in front of her instead; he nearly slipped, but ignored it. His heart was pounding in his chest at a mile a minute, but he still put a big smile on his face to try and let his girlfriend know that it wasn't something bad. "I think this is a great place to do this...not just 'cause I've been planning it for tonight either. Do you remember the first time we were up on a rooftop?"

Mavis nodded and smiled at the memory. "My first sunrise."

"Exactly," Johnny agreed as his palms started to sweat slightly; as gross as it sounds, he wiped them on his shorts to clean them. "Rooftops are kind of like 'our place', so I guess now is the perfect time to ask you something." When Mavis just looked at him, waiting for him to go on, he cleared his throat. "I know we've only been together, like, four years...I mean, that's a long time for a human, but to you..." He shook his head, not knowing. "Anyway, I just thought...we're zings, and I know we're gonna be together for the rest of our lives. But I just...I want to do this whole thing properly."

Mavis was clearly intrigued as to what was going on, if the way she tilted her head was anything to go by. _Okay...so far so good...now just ask her!_

Johnny reached his hand into his shorts pocket, closing his fingers around the little box he'd stored in there. "Mavis," He said slowly, heart beating so loud that he could hear the blood pumping in his ears and nothing else. "Would you marry me?"

He pulled the box out of his pocket quickly and opened it so she could see the ring he'd picked out; he'd had to ask several different monsters' opinions on what kind of thing Mavis might like - and, of course, he had to choose a gold one so that it didn't burn her or anything like silver did. It had taken a few months to find the perfect ring, and then he'd had to actually find the money to buy it - it meant he had to avoid buying souvenirs for a few more months, and he'd even had to ask for a couple of dollars from Dracula to help him buy it. He was terrified that someone else would have bought it in the months it took to get the money, but luckily the ring was still there when he came back to the store.

Mavis just stared at the ring, eyes wide and mouth falling slightly open in shock; Johnny didn't know if this was a good sign or not, so he started to ramble again. "So, uhh...the middle jewel on the ring is a sapphire," He mumbled, going quite red in the face. "It's your birthstone...well, that's what the guy in the store said...and then the ones on either side are diamonds, 'cause they're classic in rings." He bit his lip. "So...are you gonna answer me, or-?"

He was cut off by Mavis practically throwing herself at him, nearly knocking him off the rooftop entirely as she wrapped her arms around him. "Holy Rabies! Yes! Yes, of course!" She half-laughed-half-sobbed, causing the human to chuckle out of relief and happiness.

As she pulled away, Johnny hurriedly took the ring out of its box and reached for his new fiancée's left hand; he slipped the ring onto the right finger and grinned at Mavis. "I can't believe it," He muttered, breathing fast - this time out of excitement. "We're getting married!"

"I know!" Mavis laughed. She leaned forwards and pressed her lips to his joyously, feeling on top of the world - much higher than the roof at that moment, and higher than the sky above.

As they pulled away from each other, Mavis moving in closer and leaning her head on Johnny's shoulder as she held onto him, they looked up at the starry night sky - that night couldn't have been any more perfect if either of them had tried.

* * *

Due to the fact that vampires didn't show up in photos, and by default sonograms, Mavis and Johnny had been unable to find out their baby's sex before the birth. This left the parents-to-be with not a lot more to do than talk and speculate on the matter.

"So?" Mavis asked one night, flopping next to her husband by the pool. Her bathing suit was stretched to its' limit to accommodate her growing baby bump, and it wouldn't be much longer until she wouldn't be able to wear it anymore. "Boy or girl?"

Johnny shrugged. "Are we making a bet here or talking about what we'd like?"

"What we'd like."

Johnny tilted his head back and watched the sky thoughtfully. "Dunno. I guess I've never really thought about it...I mean, as long as he or she is healthy," He added quickly at the look on his wife's face.

Mavis put her hand on her baby bump and started to stroke it in thought. "I guess. I'm not too picky."

"It'd be cool if it was a girl though," Johnny mused, chuckling slightly to himself. "It'd be the first girl born in my family for years...I mean, Matt and his wife told me they're expecting another boy, and then there's me and all my brothers..."

"Not because you want a girl then?" Mavis teased.

"It's not that," The red-head muttered quickly. "I was just saying. Look, either is awesome with me – as long as they're not deformed or anything."

"I highly doubt they will be," The female vampire said, amused. Johnny just shrugged again – after all, they weren't going to scans or anything to check. "Anyway, you never told me which one you'd actually like better."

Her husband looked down at the pool, kicking his feet in the water. "I _did_ tell you. I don't care...Hold on!" He looked up and smirked at her. "You didn't say which one _you_ 'd prefer...Which one would _you_ like?"

Mavis smiled slightly to herself. "Honestly? I kind of agree with you...but if I _could_ choose," She continued quickly when her husband opened his mouth to protest. "I'd probably choose a girl."

Johnny stared at her for a moment, an unreadable expression on his face. "Why?"

Mavis shrugged. "I don't know. I just...I think it'd be nice to have a daughter to play with and see grow up. I mean, you can talk to them properly, gossip a little when they get older...Boys are great, don't get me wrong, but I'd just prefer having a baby girl."

There was a short silence between them; a couple of the younger wolf pups jumped in the pool, splashing the two vampires with drops of water but neither of them said anything. "I think I agree with you," Johnny finally said, flashing her a smile and showing off his fangs. "A girl sounds adorable."

"Come on," Mavis decided, pushing herself forwards and into the pool. "Auntie Wanda told me that swimming is good for when you're pregnant – maybe it'll relax the baby so that they kick some more for us."

Johnny slipped into the pool after his wife eagerly, grinning and chasing after her in the warm water.


	18. R - Revelations

By the time the day of the big reveal came around, Mavis had met every single person in her fiancée's immediate family - and she adored them all. Each of Johnny's brothers were quite different from each other, although they were all pretty nice to her, cracking jokes to entertain her and make her laugh. Mavis could definitely see that they were related to Johnny; some of them sported bright red hair like her fiancée, while others had hazel eyes similar to his instead - the second eldest brother, James, simply looked like an older version of his younger brother.

His parents were amazing as well; Jean, his mother, was so sweet and attentive to Mavis, always making sure that she was comfortable in the house. In fact, Jean became quite a mothering figure to the vampire, especially when she found out that her mother had died when she was little.

"How awful!" She gasped, wrapping her arms around Mavis comfortingly. "How did she die, sweetie?"

"Uhh...she was murdered," Mavis said evasively - 'killed by humans' was not appropriate for obvious reasons. "It's...okay, I guess. I never really got to know her, although I wish I had. My dad adored her - he still does, and I just wish I could have spent more time with her."

Jean let out a noise of empathy and squeezed the vampire even tighter while giving her condolences. Although Mavis had been honest when she'd said it was okay, it still felt nice to have a motherly figure looking after her suddenly, and she soon found herself considering Jean to be a sort of-mother to her - which wasn't too far from the truth, since she'd be her mother-in-law.

The eldest brother - Matt, Mavis learnt his name was - had also brought a girl home with him, who was called Rachel. Rachel looked a bit older than Johnny and Mavis (the key word being looked), and she was quite pretty too; she had nice, warm brown eyes and long brown hair. On the day she and the eldest brother had arrived, she'd taken to sitting with Mavis and talking to her in quite a friendly manner.

"So, how long have you been dating Matt's brother for?" Rachel asked, sitting opposite her at the table in the kitchen.

"Four years," Mavis answered, putting down her sandwich - she'd made sure to fill it with meat, of course, since she couldn't have blood beaters at this time. "How about you and...Matt?"

Rachel laughed. "I know, I get all of them confused too, especially the twins." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Seven years..."

It was then that Mavis saw it - the small shine of the kitchen light off a gem of some sort...and it was coming from the area of her left hand... "You're engaged?" Mavis asked, eyes widening with excitement.

The other woman blushed. "Uhh...yeah. We are...but we were going to keep it a secret for a few more days, you know, and announce it to the whole family at some point." She looked at Mavis, and saw that she had an engagement ring too. "Hold on: _you_ 're engaged too?"

The vampire nodded excitedly. "Yeah. We're getting married next year!"

Rachel beamed. "Oh, how nice! Congratulations! Which brother is it again? I get confused..."

"Johnny. He's the one who's been traveling."

Rachel nodded, remembering that one of her fiancée's brothers had been traveling for the past several years. "Well, that's great!" She paused, realizing something. "Did he meet you traveling? It's just that it would have been difficult to have a long distance relationship and all." Mavis just nodded. "Oh, so where did you guys meet? Like, where are you from?"

"Transylvania," Mavis said, suddenly remembering that she had to watch what she said here - she didn't want to give away a particular secret too soon, just in case. "My dad owns a hotel, and I've been living there since I saw little." She found herself laughing a little as she continued, remembering everything. "Before my... _eighteenth_ birthday, Johnny got lost and came to the hotel - he literally bumped into me and it was like...love at first sight."

Rachel giggled, resting her head on her hands as she listened. "How cute..."

"Yeah. He sung to me on my birthday and helped arrange this great party - although, my Dad scared him away a little bit."

"Oh, I know the feeling," Rachel agreed. "My dad always hates my boyfriends; apparently, no one's good enough for me." She rolled her eyes slightly. "I guess Dads are just overprotective."

Mavis nodded, deciding to leave out the part about her mother being murdered by humans and that being the reason her father was so overprotective. "Luckily, my Dad stopped him from leaving, and...we started dating. We've been traveling since - it's been my first time from home."

The brunette-haired woman let out an "aww" noise. "That's so much more romantic than how Matt and I met," She commented, rolling her eyes slightly as she remembered her own experiences. "He was walking out of a coffee shop, and he tripped and spilled his drink all over me. As an apology, he took me out to dinner...and we've been together since."

"That's still romantic," Mavis disagreed, smiling - not too widely because of her fangs, of course. "It reminds me of a film Johnny showed me once."

The two continued to talk, and soon it was like they'd become somewhat best friends - Mavis felt quite honoured to have a friend outside of the hotel and her boyfriend, having never been to school or anything like that to make her own ones.

Of course, there was a reason that they'd decided to visit, and that arrived far too quickly; on the evening that the couple were going to be making their announcement, it was obvious that they were both somewhat nervous about it.

"It'll be fine," Johnny said as he tugged on the collar of his t-shirt, as if to smarten it up a little - although his voice was a little higher than usual. "I mean, my family's cool...they'll totally be cool with this."

Mavis nervously started to tug on her black turtleneck dress, wishing she could see what she looked like in a mirror right now. "Of course, if you say so. I mean, they're great and nice...and I'm just not sure how they're gonna react to this."

Johnny turned to her and nodded. "I guess you're right. It's gonna be hard for them to hear. That I'm going to get...get bitten and turn into a...yeah."

Mavis sighed, getting off the bed she'd been sharing with Johnny - thanks to the fact that all seven of the brothers were home, there wasn't a spare bed in the house. Luckily, the vampire was more than used to sleeping on her boyfriend's chest and it wasn't such a big deal. "This is a bad idea," She murmured, shaking her head. "I don't think this is gonna work-"

"No!" Johnny interrupted, panicking slightly. "It will. This was part of the deal - that we tell them. We can totally do that."

"I feel bad already," The vampire sighed, starting to pace the room as she spoke. "Even if they don't freak out over the fact that I'm...a Dracula...or the fact that you'll be one, they'll be upset because they'll lose you."

The human shook his head. "Nah, they won't! Mavy, my brothers are totally gonna think that being a vampire is awesome! And my parents...they'll be fine," He repeated, nodding his head as if it proved the point. "We just need to tell them quickly. Yeah, tell them quickly, like ripping of a Band-Aid..." He stopped his girlfriend's pacing, taking her hands in his and rubbing her knuckles with his thumbs. "Mavy, we need to keep calm - they've seen how awesome you are, and they'll see that even after we tell them. That's why we waited a while, wasn't it?"

Mavis nodded slowly, looking down at their intertwined hands. "I know. But I just...what if they react badly? What if they yell and try to convince you not to change?"

"But I'm going to change," Johnny stated firmly - it was clear he had his mind set on it, and the possibility of it not happening was non-existent to him. "Look, I love my family a lot, but a zing is a...once in a lifetime thing, right? It's basically magic, and I'd be an idiot to not do something about it."

The vampire looked at him with wide eyes, touched by his short speech. "I think we should mention that to them," She suggested quietly. "Maybe if they know what a zing is, and how special it is, then it'll help them accept it more."

The red-head nodded in agreement. "Absolutely. Now, come on. We've got to get this over and done with."

Downstairs, the family had already gathered - since Mavis and Johnny had said that they had an announcement, Matt had asked if he could also make one with Rachel. Being nervous, the vampire hurriedly suggested that they go first; Matt and Rachel were already stood at the front of the sitting room, waiting for everyone to be comfortable.

"So, an announcement," Matt laughed, holding a bottle of beer in one hand, his other arm around Rachel. "Now, since some of my brothers are not the most observant-"

"Hey!" Daniel interrupted jokingly, pretending to be annoyed - in reality, he was quite amused.

Matt shrugged. "It's the truth. Anyway, I know Mom has been waiting for this for a long time, so..." He grinned all around, eyes trained on the brunette woman under his arm. "I proposed to Rach last week!"

Jean let out a cry of shock, hands flying to her mouth. "It's about time!" She shouted, rushing forwards to envelope the couple in a large hug. Everyone laughed, all of the brothers and their father moving forwards to clap Matt on the back while Mavis and Jean simply hugged Rachel in congratulations, the motherly figure already talking about wedding plans.

"Before we get too excited," Matt stated loudly, raising his voice to be heard over all the noise. "One of my baby brothers also had an announcement. Right, Johnny?"

Johnny flushed bright red on the spot. "Uhh...yeah. And I'm not a baby!"

The eldest just chuckled and patted him on the back - a signal to get on with it. As everyone moved back, giving Mavis and Johnny some space, the couple looked at each other - it was now or never.

Quiet fell over the family, and they looked at the couple expectantly. "So," Johnny coughed, scratching the back of his neck nervously. "So...I guess I should...uhh...first of all say Congrats to Matt and Rachel. Good Luck, guys!" He nodded towards them - not that the two saw, since they were practically just gazing at each other lovingly now. "Right...uhh...this is Mavis," He stated, gesturing to the vampire and grinning for a short moment when he looked at her.

Mavis smiled and looked around at the family. "Hi!" She greeted cheerfully. "I'm obviously Mavis, and...and I'm Johnny's fiancée!"

A few of the brothers let out noises of surprise; it was obvious they hadn't caught on before then who exactly she was. "He proposed to you?" One of the twins - Carl - asked in disbelief, eyes wide.

"I knew that already," Jake scoffed, giving his future sister-in-law a bright smile. "She told me yesterday."

"Anyway," Johnny continued, anxiousness increasing. "Uhh...maybe you guys should sit down. It's a long story."

The family looked around at each other, somewhat confused, but did as asked; Jean sat in-between her husband and James on one of the couches, the twins sitting on either side on the arm rests. Matt pulled Rachel over to the second couch and sat her in his lap; Jake sat down next to him, looking at Johnny expectantly, and Daniel just sat on the floor. It looked quite uncomfortable and crowded, but it had to do.

Johnny looked at Mavis for what to do next; she smiled at him hopefully and took a deep breath. "The thing is, us getting married isn't entirely problem-free," She started, not sure where to look. "I mean, don't get us wrong - we love each other and we're sure we want to do this. But..." She hesitated. "But we're not the same yet."

This just created more confusion amongst the group, if the looks being exchanged was any indication.

"What do you mean?" Chris asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I mean, sure you're from different countries and all," His twin agreed, equally puzzled. "But that's not that big a problem, is it?"

"That's not what we meant," Johnny admitted, feeling sick all of a sudden. "Okay, so...Mavis is...she's...she's not twenty-two."

Jean laughed slightly. "I was going to say she looked rather young for twenty-two!"

"No, that's now what we meant either," The red-head said quietly. "She's one-hundred and twenty-two."

There was utter silence, the smiles slipping off of everyone's faces - even the happily engaged couple looked away from each other and stared at Johnny and Mavis. The twins smirked for a moment, thinking it was a joke - a subtle head shake from their elder brother confirmed that this wasn't the case.

"I think we need to start from the beginning," Mavis said, looking around desperately for a sign that everything was going to be okay. There weren't any. "I'm not human, obviously. I'm a vampire - a Dracula."

"Does that mean..." Jake trailed off, eyes extremely wide

Mavis nodded, her bangs falling into her face. "Yes. I'm _the_ Dracula's daughter."

Suddenly, Johnny's father laughed. "This sure is a funny joke you guys are telling!" He bellowed, looking between the two of them with amusement.

Johnny went bright red. "No. It's the truth, Dad." He sighed and looked down at the floor. "About four years ago, I travelled to Transylvania - it's in Romania, and I thought it'd be cool. While there, I got lost in this big spooky forest, and I tripped. When I got up, there were these really goofy looking dudes on fire, and I followed them to this really awesome castle!"

It was clear that nobody was believing his story as it was, let alone if he continued it; Mavis decided to step in. "What he means," She explained quickly. "Was he saw these zombies that were on fire, and they were coming back to our hotel when he followed them."

Matt coughed in disbelief. "Uhh...guys, I hate to burst your bubble, but zombies and vampires don't exist..."

"Just listen," Johnny mumbled, feeling worse knowing that his own family wasn't believing him. "I got to the hotel - the castle - and I met Count Dracula. He's actually not as scary as he seems...I mean, I totally didn't even know that I was in a hotel for monsters until later!" At the look his fiancée sent him, he coughed and went back to the story. "Right. Well, Drac got really scared and stuff, so he snuck me into this coat closet and took my backpack away - I know, I was really worried for it! Anyway, he painted me blue and gave me this jacket...oh, and that awful hairspray!"

Mavis decided it would be better to explain for him again. "Basically, my Dad was worried because he's a human, and humans are dangerous - to us anyway. Actually, it was humans that killed my mother, so..." She shuffled on the spot slightly. "So my Dad disguised Johnny to look like a Stein - like my Uncle Frank, so he'd fit in more."

"He was trying to kick me out."

"Yes," Mavis agreed, nodding her head and smiling out of amusement. "He was."

Jean shook her head. "I'm sorry. I just...this is too ridiculous to take in." She leaned forwards in her seat. "So you're telling me that you're Dracula's daughter - a vampire, to be exact? And that there's a hotel for monsters somewhere in Transylvania?"

Mavis nodded. "Yep."

"Pretty much," Johnny agreed. His mother flopped backwards, still not believing that this was the truth. "I know it's a lot to take in, but just...it's really important that you trust me and believe me." He looked around at his family with wide, hopeful eyes; he loved them, and he really wanted to keep in contact with them after he changed. "After I got disguised, I found out that all those monsters were real, and that I wasn't at a costume party or anything, so I freaked out. I'm not gonna go on about what I did, but I freaked out."

"And he bumped into me," Mavis remembered, smiling to herself slightly. "One minute I was walking down the stairs to the lobby, talking to my Auntie Wanda, and the next there was this blur flying and hitting me."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Johnny rub his head, as if he could still remember the pain of it.

"All I know is that I looked up, and I just...I saw him," She continued, voice getting softer and softer. "It was like...a jolt of electricity. A zing."

"We zinged," Johnny agreed, nodding and grinning at the vampire. "That's what it's called."

"You 'zinged'?" James asked in disbelief.

Johnny nodded. "Yeah. It's like...you only get one. It's like...like..."

"Like love at first sight," Rachel finished for him. Mavis turned to face her, and found that the brunette was smiling at her - she _believed_ them.

Encouraged by this, the vampire decided to put an end to the story. "The point is that we're zings," She said, gesturing to herself and Johnny. "It's a once in a lifetime thing - there's never another one in your life. And we're more than prepared to spend the rest of our lives together."

"But?" Daniel asked, catching on quickly.

Johnny looked at his family, somewhat apologetically. "But vampires age a lot slower than we do. Mavis would live for hundreds and hundreds of years after we do...And I don't want to put her through the pain of losing someone she loves." He straightened up - this was something he could say for definite. "A couple of months before our wedding, she's going to change me so I can be like her. So I can live with her for hundreds of years."

There was utter silence - it seemed that no one could think of something to say in this situation, having never been in one like it before. Neither the vampire nor the human were sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

The first person to speak was Daniel. "So...that's it. You're just gonna get bitten and never see us again?"

"Of course we'll come visit," Mavis stated. "I know I've only been here a few days, but you all feel like a second family to me - you'd have to stop me physically from coming back."

Even her little joke didn't seem to lighten the mood. Rachel was the next to speak, sending the couple a smile. "I personally hope you guys have the best of luck," She said gently.

"You can't possibly be believing this," Matt said in disbelief, shaking his head.

"What, do you want her to prove it or something?" Johnny questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Dude, do you want Mavis to suck your blood out or something?"

"But that's just it," Chris intervened, frowning in confusion. "If she's a vampire, why hasn't she sucked all of our blood out?"

There were some nods and murmurs of agreement, everyone's attention focusing on Mavis for an explanation. The vampire simply shrugged and sighed. "Human blood is - no offence - very fatty. My father and I don't drink it, because it would make us ill. Instead, we have blood-beaters-"

"And all that monster food," Johnny added.

Mavis nodded. "Yes." When the family just continued to look confused or disbelieving, she thought of something that might convince them. "I suppose there's a way I _could_ prove it," She said nervously, and they looked at her, intrigued. "I mean, I could always just turn into a bat for you."

"That's pretty cool," Johnny muttered, also nodding his head. "But all you'd have to do is show them your fangs, Mavy."

Everyone was staring at her, waiting curiously to see - if she showed them her vampire fangs, then they'd have no choice but to believe her. The vampire shut her eyes and opened her mouth up, showing her pearly white fangs to her fiancée's family. It was only when she heard their gasps that she knew she could shut her mouth and look around nervously again.

"This is too strange," Matt decided, trying to get up. Of course, with Rachel on his lap, it was a bit more difficult than it normally would have been and he was forced to remain seated.

"This _is_ a bit too weird to take in," James agreed, staring at his younger brother in horror. "Johnny...for God's sake, why? She could kill you!"

"Mavis wouldn't hurt me!" Johnny protested, not sure whether to be hurt at his older brothers' lack of support or annoyed that they had this assumption about his fiancée. "And she wouldn't hurt anyone - I mean, has she hurt you over the last few days?"

Neither of them said anything, although they didn't look convinced that the vampire was entirely harmless.

Chris cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention. "Johnny, this is insane!" He stated pleadingly, looking at him as if he were mad. "I mean, out of all the girls out there in the world, you go for the one who's a monster and going to outlive you! I mean, yes, this one _is_ pretty, but she's a monster! There are just so many _normal_ girls out there that even you could get!"

Mavis blinked, suddenly tears appearing in her eyes. She ducked her head to hide them, feeling quite offended and hurt by the way he'd turned on her so suddenly, especially since it was something she had no control over.

Johnny, however, was just plain angry. "Mavis is NOT a monster!" He shouted. He loved all of his brothers, he really did, but this was way too much. "And what do you mean by 'normal'? Normal is boring anyway!"

"Dude," Carl said, addressing his twin as he stood up and looked at him seriously. "I don't see what the problem is."

Chris' mouth fell open. "Carl! Did you not hear what they said?! She's a...a vampire!"

"So?" Carl questioned, shrugging as if it weren't a big deal. "If she wanted to hurt us, she's had the last few days to do so - and if she wanted to hurt Johnny, then she's had four years to do it." He turned to his elder brother and Mavis, giving them a supportive smile. "Congrats, bro! She's a keeper, I can tell!"

Mavis looked up and gave him a full-smile; he didn't even flinch at the sight of her fangs. "Thanks," Johnny said, voice quieter - he even smiled a little bit at the twin. "It means a lot to us."

Daniel stood up from the floor, looking between his brother and the vampire. "I'm not a hundred percent sure about this," He admitted, sighing a little bit. "But Carl's got a point. Besides, I still think she's way too good for you." Mavis giggled a little bit while her fiancée pretended to act offended, and he turned to smile at her. "Welcome to the family...although, do me a favour?"

"Yes?"

Daniel grinned cheekily. "Are there any hot chicks at your hotel? I totally feel ready to 'zing' with them, if you know what I mean."

"Oh, me too!" Carl added hastily, and the two high-fived each other as they chuckled.

"I think that can be arranged," Mavis laughed, and the two men pulled her into a warm hug.

Johnny smiled to himself, glad that not all his family were against him - but then he remembered that not everyone had spoken up yet. He turned back to the rest of the family; his parents on one couch with James, Jake on the other next to Matt and Rachel, who were quietly arguing about the matter. "So?" He asked hopefully. Brothers were one thing - but parents were another entirely.

Jake sent him a smile. "Dude, you're happy! Why would I hate that? Well...apart from the total shit-eating grin on your face you get, of course."

Four brothers and one future sister-in-law were with them, and three were against. So far, it wasn't that bad a win. Of course, they still had to hear from his parents, and everyone fell silent as they waited for the two elder adults' verdict.

Johnny's father stood up first, looking between his son and the vampire with unsure eyes. Finally, he fixed his eyes on Mavis so he could focus all of his attention on her. "You're not going to hurt my boy?"

Mavis shook her head anxiously. "Of course not."

"And when you...change him...you'll make sure to stay with him, throughout the whole thing, right? And it will be done safely and correctly?"

Mavis nodded. "Of course. My Dad will be there too, to make sure it's done the right way."

His father nodded, and reached out a hand - it was for her to take. "Then I guess...I guess I can live with it," He joked, giving her a warm and welcoming smile. "Just do one thing - call me Joe. None of that 'sir' or 'mister' crap."

The vampire couldn't help it; she was so excited that she flung herself forwards and squeezed him in a bone-crushing hug. "You don't know how happy that makes me!" She laughed, pressing a kiss to his cheek out of gratitude.

Johnny, though happy his Dad was on board, couldn't help but gaze across the room at his mother; his mother had cared for him all these years, and for a mother to suddenly have all this information thrown in her face...it couldn't have been easy.

Jean looked back at her son and sighed. "I...I think I need to lie down."

As she stood up and left the room, the previously light atmosphere disappeared entirely. Mavis, who had just finished her hug with Joe and had started talking to him excitedly, looked at her fiancée with a frown on her face; she could tell that he was going to be rather upset at her leaving, and knew it would be best to help him take his mind off of it.

"She'll come around," Joe said softly to his son, capturing all of his attention in just a few words. "And I'm sure everyone else will too. It's just...time to adjust, you know?"

Matt and Rachel finished arguing, and the two got up to walk over to the little group in the middle of the room that had formed. "We've talked it through," Matt said grudgingly, not looking at either of them. "I still don't see how it's all possible, but I guess since it is there's not a lot anyone can do about it."

Rachel beamed at Mavis and leaned forwards to give her a supportive hug. "Thanks," Mavis whispered in the brunette's ear gratefully, knowing that it was thanks to her another brother was on their side.

"Hey, we're gonna be sisters-in-law," Rachel stated obviously. "We've got to stick together, or we're never going to survive all the boys in this family."

"Well," Johnny sighed, trying to remember to stay optimistic. "Thanks for all your support, guys. At least it's the majority, right?"

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Chris and James leave the room, shaking their heads in utter disbelief. "I'm sure the others are going to be fine with it," She stated, also trying to keep positive. She moved closer to her fiancée and nuzzled her head into the crook of his shoulder as a way of comforting him. "Maybe they just need time to think it over and get used to the idea."

Johnny shot her a grateful look, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Yeah. I guess."

"Hey, baby brother!" Daniel called from across the room, grinning from ear to ear. "You're gonna be a vampire now, right? That's gotta be cool!" He wiggled his eyebrows at Mavis suggestively. "Any way I can convince you, Mavis?"

Mavis giggled, shaking her head. "No."

"Yeah, dude," Johnny snorted. "I've only just convinced her to let _me_ change - good luck though!"

* * *

While Dracula did love his hotel, not all of the work was fun to do; for example, paperwork was one of the more boring tasks he had to complete. It was even more difficult when guests and friends kept on knocking on his office door and interrupting him.

He sighed as he shut the door behind him; a skeleton guest had been complaining about their room, and he'd had to sort it out for them. He wanted nothing more than to sit down, even if it was to do some stupid paperwork...

Just as he sat down in his chair, however, to finish off the papers, there was a loud knock on the door.

"What?" He shouted, quite annoyed now. "I am trying to work! If you have a problem, please see one of the zombies down-"

"Dad, it's me!"

Dracula knew that voice anywhere. He straightened up, irritated scowl disappearing entirely; moving quickly, he race back to the door and flung it open. His daughter was standing there, smiling at him happily, with Johnny stood next to her looking quite nervous about something. "Mavy!" He exclaimed, clearly pleased to see his daughter. "I'm sorry, my little bat, I didn't realize it was you! Come in!"

The couple entered Dracula's office, and as he turned around he swore he saw them shooting nervous looks at each other.

"What can I do for you two?" Dracula asked, shutting the door behind them and moving to stand in front of them so he could watch them both eagerly. "Is everything alright?"

"Of course," Mavis said quickly, not wanting him to panic too much. "No, it's just that...that Johnny and I have some news that we want to share with you." At this, she smiled at her husband and wrapped an arm around his waist; he smiled back nervously before looking at the older vampire.

Dracula's welcoming smile disappeared. "It's not bad news, is it?"

"No! It's actually pretty good news," Johnny answered, grinning slightly as he remembered what they were about to tell. Then he remembered that this _was_ Count Dracula that he was talking to, and that it _was_ his wife's father who could rip him to pieces.

"Well, what is it?" Dracula questioned, somewhat impatiently. After all, he didn't have all night to stand around, even if it was to talk to his precious Mavy-Wavy.

Mavis smiled radiantly, baring her fangs at her father. "Well, we're having a baby."

"You're gonna be a Grandpa, Drac!" Johnny added in case he didn't get the message.

Dracula froze on the spot, blue eyes widening with shock. "A...a baby?" He repeated, eyes trained on his daughter entirely. "You?"

She rolled her eyes slightly. "Well, duh!"

The famous vampire blinked and slowly lifted his finger to point at his son-in-law. "And you? It is your baby?"

"Well, I hope it is," Johnny laughed, nerves getting the better of him once again. "'Cause that'd be weird to explain."

"Aren't you excited?" Mavis asked, sounding slightly disappointed at her father's lack of enthusiasm.

Dracula's eyes snapped to her as he regained his thoughts and straightened up on the spot. "Of course, Mavy!" He agreed quickly, flashing her a quick smile. "I'm just...surprised, especially since you two are so...so young. You've only been married three years, after all!"

"Yeah, well, it was a bit of a surprise," Johnny admitted, and Dracula glared at him slightly. "I mean, we're both excited! Definitely!"

"Look, Dad," Mavis started, drawing her father's attention back to her. "What he means is that we know we're both young and at first it was...a bit of a shock. But after we thought about it, we just...we can't wait!" She smiled at him hopefully. "Are _you_ happy?"

The Count thought about it hard and started to shift through all of his feelings. It wasn't that he wasn't happy, it was just...thinking about how grown up his daughter was, now having her own children, made him feel quite old for a start, and emotional at how much she'd grown up over the years. Oh, he couldn't help but glare at Johnny even more - after all, for his daughter to get pregnant...

"I totally think he's gonna rip me apart," Johnny whispered in a not-very-quiet-at-all whisper.

Dracula cleared his throat, trying to rid all unpleasant thoughts about how this child came to be out of his head. "No," He lied, not even trying to hide the fact he wasn't being exactly truthful. "The thought, it never occurred."

"So, you're happy?" Mavis checked, raising an eyebrow.

At the hopeful looks on both of the younger vampires' faces, he had no choice but to give in and smile. "Of course, my little ghoul! A baby...that is...wow." He started to imagine after this child would be born; reading them bedtime stories, chasing them while they giggled around the corridors loudly, singing to them and making them laugh... "But you will let me help, right?"

Mavis laughed, throwing her arms around him joyfully and pulling him into a bone-crushing hug. "Of course you can help, Dad!"

Johnny grinned at his father-in-law and nodded in agreement. "By the way, dude, you're gonna make an awesome Grandpa!"

Although Dracula wasn't quite sure he liked being called an 'awesome Grandpa', he knew it to mean a compliment and gave a small smile to the former human. "Thank You, Johnny."

Even if Johnny _had_ gotten his daughter pregnant, he supposed that he wasn't all that bad; now he had another little child in his life to help look after, to teach new things to. Yes, he decided, hugging his daughter back and smiling even more: he was positively ecstatic to have another little bat in his life.


	19. S - Songs

Every year, Dracula made sure his precious daughter had as best a birthday as he could arrange. Even though he refused to let her leave the hotel besides from scorpion-hunting, he managed to come up different ways, year after year, of making sure that she had the "bestest, specialist" party in the entire world.

It was when she turned fifty-two that he started to throw parties - and he soon discovered that it was not an easy task.

First of all, he had to make sure all of the hotel's guests came - he was sure his daughter would love seeing all of the familiar faces wishing her a happy birthday, and it would give the guests a chance to try and do something new (not that his usual activities he planned were boring - no way!). Then there was the actual task of arranging the party and making sure it was absolutely perfect for his precious Mavy-Wavy - what did a fifty-two year old vampire girl like? It took a lot of questioning, making his daughter quite suspicious, but he had no choice - he wanted it to be perfect, and perfect it would be.

The final thing he ended up arranging was the music arrangements.

Now, because the monsters kept away from the humans and their world as much as possible, they had no idea as to what the style of music was during the time. Instead Dracula decided to hire the Mariachi Band, as well as Zombie Mozart, to produce the music; the Mariachi Band would provide some happy, cheerful numbers to start the party off while Mozart and his fellow zombie composers would provide some more classical and calm music for later in the party.

"Why didn't you just ask us?" Griffin asked one night; from the way one side of his glasses lifted, he was probably raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Frank agreed, frowning slightly. "All of us could have sung for her - just like old times."

Dracula had just shaken his head. "No," He said sternly. "I don't do that anymore, you guys all know that. Now, I have to finish the decorations."

Before any of his friends could open their mouths and argue, he'd morphed into a purple mist and disappeared before they could stop him. Singing was still a sore spot for him - he could still remember doing that for Martha back in the days when they were nothing more than young one-hundred and eighteen year old vampires, and he still very much adored his now late wife.

But right now, he didn't have time for mourning - he had to make sure Mavis' party was perfect.

Eventually, the night of his daughter's birthday arrived - he was woken up by the sound of tiny fists banging on his coffin eagerly, proudly exclaiming, "It's my birthday, daddy! I'm fifty-two now! Come on, Daddy! You can't sleep on my birthday!"

While this was not the ideal way to be woken up, the Count had put a smile on his face and gotten up; he still had preparations to make before the party, and he had to check everything over too. It wasn't too difficult to distract his daughter, especially since all of her Aunts and Uncles arrived early in the night to celebrate with her. Wanda, especially, was a great help - Mavis was drawn to her motherly instincts, and very much enjoyed a little cuddle with her. And that wasn't to say that Eunice wasn't as equally distracting; no, with her loud voice and big personality, it would be hard to miss Eunice.

"Daddy, look!" Mavis called excitedly from the side of the pool when Dracula was passing through to check on some things; he saw his daughter holding something in her hands. "Auntie Eunice got me a nail kit! She said that she's going to do my nails whatever colour I want, and she's going to do my make-up too!"

"That's great, honey!" Dracula agreed cheerfully, sending her a smile as if it would hide the fact he was sneaking around behind her back. "Make sure to say thank you - and Eunice, not too much make-up! She's only fifty-two!" The flesh-golem rolled her eyes at him, and he could somehow tell that his advice was not going to be taken. Before Mavis or anyone could start up another conversation, he zoomed away from the pool and back inside - he was just finishing the preparations, and then the party would start.

In just two hours, he had managed to pull his daughter away from doting guests, convinced her to put on a pretty dress (all while she was continuously asking what was going on, to which he declined to answer) and flew her to the dining hall where the party was being held. He had to cover her eyes when he walked her in, so that she didn't see until the right moment.

Oh, but was it worth it.

As Mavis ran further into the room, eyes wide as she greeted everyone excitedly as quickly as she could, Dracula nodded to the Mariachi Band to start playing. It seemed that in no time at all the party was in full-swing - Mavis had been escorted onto the dance floor by Frank and Wayne to dance (well...more or less swing her around in what the Count considered to be rather risky movements), and all of the guests were having a great time too as they drank and danced.

"You put this whole thing together by yourself?" He heard Griffin ask, and tried not to jump too much.

"Yes...well, the zombies helped."

The glasses shook slightly, as if Griffin were shaking his head. "So you put the whole thing together - impressive!"

Dracula smiled at the floating glasses on his invisible friend. "Yes, well...it's my Mavy-Wavy's birthday. It had to be perfect."

"Well, you did a great job buddy!" He felt something pat him on the back, probably Griffin's hand. "You look irresistible tonight, Drac - care for a dance?"

Dracula blinked. "Ehh...no." Before Griffin could complain, he disappeared into his mist form and made his way through the crowd to talk to some of the other guests.

At about half-past six the next morning, the Count gave the Mariachi Band the okay to take a break, bringing on the zombie composers instead; he made a quick announcement to the guests, letting them know of this change, and then set off in search of his daughter.

Mavis had been resting on Frank's lap while the giant flesh golem had a drink; Wanda was rubbing a paw on her back as she talked to her husband and Eunice. Dracula smiled down at his daughter, who sat up immediately and beamed at her father excitedly. "Dance with me?" She requested - she'd been asking all night, but he'd been too busy to do so.

Until that moment.

"Of course," He said, pulling her out of Frank's lap. He lead his daughter out to the dance floor, took her hands, and gently started to sway with her as some classical music started. It was nicer, the Count thought, dancing to slower music - there was no rush, and it was more about bonding in his opinion. "Have you enjoyed your birthday, my little ghoul?"

Mavis nodded, head poking into Dracula's stomach slightly. "Uh-huh! Thank You for the party, Daddy - it's been the bestest birthday ever!"

The elder vampire chuckled slightly. "I'm glad."

The great thing about slow music was that there was no rush or anything when dancing to it - he could just hold his daughter in his arms and talk to her. He could cherish her while she was still young, and just enjoy this moment of being with her - the zombie composers made this more than easy to do that evening, and did the same on many different occasions.

* * *

The first thing Johnny knew he had to do when they left the hotel was show Mavis new music. It was only after they'd sung their zing song before their departure that he realized she'd never heard much music besides that of the hotel band and such.

Luckily, Mavis was just as eager to learn about new music as Johnny was to teach her. While the band and the zombies at the hotel were rather good, she still wanted to listen to some more modern music; she'd heard Johnny listening to some before they left, and couldn't wait for him to show her properly.

The chance came before their first flight, of course to Hawaii, when they arrived too early to get on their plane and had some time to kill.

Johnny hummed something to himself as they sat down, bags on the floor in front of them, and took his phone out of his pocket. "There's only one thing to do now," He announced to the vampire, using his thumb to scroll down the page to find what he wanted. "So, I'm gonna download a couple of albums, and then we're gonna listen to them. Is there a particular type you wanna try first?"

Mavis just blinked at him, clearly not having a clue what he meant.

"We'll start with a Foreigner one," He decided, clicking on the appropriate buttons on his mobile. "They're not that new or anything, but they're classic - my Dad always played it in the car when he took us to places at the weekend." He leaned down to his backpack, unzipped it, and started to go through it. "I don't think I have another pair of earphones, but we can totally share mine."

There was a minute or so where he fumbled through his bag, tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth in concentration, even stopping to take out a few things and replace them seconds later. Eventually he found his earphones, only to find that they were also pretty tangled up. Mavis giggled as he stared at the knots with wide eyes, not entirely sure where to start untangling them.

"Uhhh...let me just..." He clumsily started to pull at the knots, undoing them as quickly as he could. "This happens all the time, I'm telling you. It's so annoying!"

"You listen to a lot of music," Mavis stated, picking up her boyfriend's phone and looking through his music folder on his phone. "I didn't know there was so much out there..."

"Yeah, and to think," Johnny muttered cheerfully, sticking his tongue out again in concentration. "That's not even, like, half of all the music out there. There's just so much out there, from all over the world...and then there's always more being made, so it's impossible to listen to it all. Aha!" He grinned, holding up the earphones triumphantly. "Did it!"

The two moved closer together, the red-head giving his girlfriend one bud to put in her ear, and they hurriedly clicked on the album that Johnny had just downloaded. Music started to blare through the earphones loudly, and Johnny hurriedly turned the volume down. "Sorry," He apologized sheepishly - the last time he'd been listening to his music had been on the plane leaving Transylvania after Mavis' birthday party, and he'd had the music blaring as if it would help him forget previous events.

Mavis started to bob her head to the rhythm of the music, clearly getting into it quickly. "What's this song called?"

"Uhh... _Feels Like The First Time_ ," Johnny answered, looking at the name of the song when it appeared on the screen. "I think it was, like, one of their first songs or something..."

Mavis liked it, to say the least - the lyrics were quite upbeat but romantic in a way, and she found herself enjoying the song as the band continued to sing. "I can't believe I've never heard this kind of thing before," She said in awe, eyes wide as she listened. "You're so lucky to have listened to all of these songs."

"Well, you can listen to them to," Johnny stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Seriously, I don't mind you using my phone to listen to music - go ahead!" With that, he took his earphone out and offered it to his girlfriend. "I've heard all these songs before, so you can have both of these."

Mavis took it and inserted it into her other ear; while the music had been pretty good with just one earphone in, it was even better with two. "Wow!" She cried out in shock, and Johnny stared at her confusedly. "It's like...like it's actually playing right next to me!"

The red-head chuckled. "Yeah...those earphones are definitely better than these cheap ones I got on a boat to France one time."

Mavis didn't seem to hear this, instead just staring at the device in wonder. "I didn't know it could fit so much," She murmured in amazement. "I mean, it's so small - and it can fit more on it?"

"Oh, totally," Johnny agreed, nodding. "I think I could probably get another few hundred on there if I tried. Cool, huh?"

The dark-haired vampire could only nod in response.

* * *

For Mavis' one-hundred and nineteenth, the couple agreed to return home to the hotel for a couple of days - this way the Count would be able to see his precious daughter on her birthday and see she was in one piece. It would also give him the chance to throw another (hopefully successful) birthday party, this time with some of the more modern music that a certain human had introduced the monster world too.

"Johnny," Dracula coughed one evening. He'd made sure that Mavis wasn't in the room for this conversation, sending her to go and give Frank and Eunice their hotel key. "As you may know, I'm throwing another birthday party for Mavis."

The red-haired human nodded. "Uh-huh. It's gonna totally be great, Drac! Trust me!"

Dracula gave a small smile. "Thank You. But I need you to do me something." Johnny nodded, waiting patiently. "You...You know a lot of songs, yes?"

"Uhh...I guess so."

"Well, I would like you to provide some music for the party," The Count continued, looking around again to check that Mavis wasn't nearby - her acute sense of hearing would definitely pick it up if she entered the room. "You know, 'fun' music. While it's not my thing..." He shook his head - what was wrong with the zombies and Mariachi band? "My Mavy-Wavy likes it, so I think she would appreciate it."

Johnny nodded again. "Of course, Drac! I've got like hundreds of songs we can play...although..." He looked up at the vampire, confused. "How are we gonna play them? You guys don't have a CD player or anything."

"I'm sure we'll figure something out," Dracula said quickly - he knew Mavis would walk through the door at any moment now.

"Cool. Hey, we should totally go full-out and buy speakers!"

Dracula waved his hand at the human worriedly. "Yes, sounds good...Mavis! Honey-bat!" Before Johnny could say anything else, the Count had zoomed across the room and started talking animatedly to his daughter about her upcoming birthday.

Luckily, the next evening Mavis had been quite distracted; Dracula had decided to take her out for a scorpion hunt, grudgingly giving the red-haired human some money to go to a nearby human village and find some form of speakers and a chord to connect them to his phone. Knowing he was completely in-charge of the music preparations, Johnny wasted no time in taking a hearse out to the edge of the forest, finding the equipment he needed, and then hauling it back to the hotel (well, it had been tiring work, but way worth it).

It was just in time too - the next evening was Mavis' birthday and party, so he made sure to check it all worked before the sun rose the next day, just in case, and then checked with Dracula as well to make sure this was what he wanted.

"Her birthday is gonna be awesome," Johnny stated, grinning madly when music started to blare through the speakers clearly. "Seriously - I made a playlist on my phone of all her favourite songs, so we'll just play that all night."

"I have to admit," The Count said, sighing a little but smiling widely and showing off his fangs. "You've done a great job. Now, I have to talk to one of the zombies about the lighting - you better get back to your room." Johnny nodded, already heading in that direction. "And no! That does not mean sneaking into my daughter's room!"

Johnny spun around, groaning. "But...Come on, dude! It's her birthday!"

Dracula glared at the human, eyes glowing a little bit. "No! Not if you know what is good for you..."

With that threat in the air, the red-head sighed in defeat and headed for his hotel room; he was going to need a lot of rest for the party the next night, and if he wanted to surprise his girlfriend in the morning (Hey, Drac never said anything about that!).

The party, of course, could not have been more of a hit.

All of the guests had gotten down into the hall before Mavis had, and were already enjoying the festivities when the vampire walked in, holding hands with Johnny. She gasped out of surprise, eyes widening as she took everything in. "Wow," She breathed, looking around and smiling at some of the more familiar guests. "This is even better than last year..."

Johnny grinned at the content look on her face. "Yeah...hopefully this year, no rats will jump on my head...and your Dad won't threaten to murder me." He looked at her, squeezing her hand so that she'd pay attention to him. "Come on...Wanna dance?"

Mavis nodded, and the two moved through the crowd so that they could be right in the middle of the dancing monsters - being in the middle made it easier to get into a rhythm, somehow, which was just what the two wanted. "Hold on!" She shouted over the music, and Johnny had to strain to hear her properly. "This is music from your phone!"

Her boyfriend nodded. "Yeah! Drac asked me to help with the music. It's so awesome, isn't it?"

As expected, the couple spent the entire night dancing together, Mavis' cape flapping through the air while Johnny's arms went flying and nearly hit a couple of people nearby; they were even singing along to the music as well, going through all of the vampire's favourite ones energetically.

Not all of her favourite songs were energetic and cheerful, though - no, Mavis did love romantic songs. That didn't necessarily mean, though, that they had to stop dancing.

Mavis stopped dancing when the opening bars of one of her newly-discovered favourite started to blare through the speakers placed around the dance floor. "This is one of my favourites!" She stated, beaming at her boyfriend and showing off her fangs. "Come on - slow-dance with me!"

Johnny couldn't help but freeze up; dancing was one thing, but slow-dancing... "Actually..." He stuttered out, trying to think of a way of turning down the offer nicely. "I don't know how to, Mavis...uhh...I didn't go to my Senior Prom or anything, so..."

She rolled her eyes slightly. "I guessed as much." She reached out her hands for him to take. "I'll teach you. Come on, it's easy when you get the hang of it."

The human hesitated before giving in and putting his hands in hers; she beamed in satisfaction and pulled him closer to her. "So...where do I-"

"Just put this hand here," Mavis dictated, moving the appropriate hand to the appropriate place. "And then just take this hand...and then it's easy. It's just swaying, I guess...I only ever did it with my Dad, but I wasn't tall enough to do more than stand on his shoes."

_I see the questions in your eyes_   
_I know what's weighing on your mind_   
_But you can be sure I know my part_   
_'Cause I'll stand beside you through the years_   
_You'll only cry those happy tears_   
_And though I'll make mistakes_   
_I'll never break your heart_

It took a little while, but eventually Johnny started to get a feel of it; it _was_ just swaying, but it was kind of...special. He found himself gazing lovingly into his girlfriend's eyes, somewhat enchanted by how deep and beautiful they were, and gave her a small, loving smile.

_I swear_   
_By the moon and stars in the sky_   
_I'll be there_   
_I swear_   
_Like the shadow that's by your side_   
_I'll be there_   
_For better or worse_   
_Till death do us part_   
_I'll love you with every beat of my heart_   
_I swear_

"I like this song too," Johnny admitted, speaking softly in case it broke the spell that seemed to have been cast on the two of them. "Although, I can't remember downloading it or anything..."

Mavis laughed slightly. "It must have been on one of those albums. The ones with different singers and different types of songs on them."

_I'll give you everything I can_   
_I'll build your dreams with these two hands_   
_We'll hang some memories on the wall_   
_And when there's silver in your hair_   
_You won't have to ask if I still care_   
_'Cause as time turns the page_   
_My love won't age at all_

As the song went on, it was easy to relate it to their relationship - after all, it was a love song. But Johnny found himself promising to Mavis in his head to do as many of the things that the song mentioned: being there for her, never breaking her heart...and he'd certainly love her forever, no doubts.

Mavis leaned forwards slightly as the chorus started again, resting her head on his shoulder and gripping his hand tightly (not too tightly though); Johnny smiled to himself, stooping down a tiny bit to kiss her head affectionately, and pulled her body closer to his.

_I swear_   
_By the moon and stars in the sky_   
_I'll be there_   
_I swear_   
_Like the shadow that's by your side_   
_I'll be there_   
_For better or worse_   
_Till death do us part_   
_I'll love you with every beat of my heart_   
_I swear_   
_I swear_

Even after the final couple of lines had finished, the couple found themselves unable to part; it was like a spell had been cast on them, and neither of them wanted this to end just yet.

Finally, Mavis coughed slightly, pulling away and smiling at her boyfriend with a shine in her eyes. "See? I told you it wasn't so hard."

The red-head shrugged just as another upbeat song started to play. "Yeah, well...I guess I just had a great partner."


	20. T - Travels

The first time Johnny ever travelled had been when he was ten. By this point, his parents had decided that they were done having children, and had been saving up for the past four years since the youngest child's birth so that they could go on some kind of family vacation together one Summer.

"Guess where we're going?" Their mother asked her sons excitedly one evening, and they all looked up at her in interest. "Now, I know, Matt, that you're nearly nineteen, and James, you're sixteen, but your father and I know that you've been asking since you were both little, so..."

Matt's jaw dropped open; he clearly knew where this was heading. "You can't be serious, Mom."

James seemed to catch on pretty quickly too, and his eyes widened. "No way..."

"Now, since I know _some_ of you might complain about it being for kids," Jean continued, a playful twinkle in her eyes. "I made sure to get hotel rooms for the park in a different country, so we can do some sight-seeing as well..."

"But what are you talking about?" Daniel asked, clearly puzzled by this. "Where are we going?"

Jean smiled. "We're going to Paris - half of the week in the city, and the other half in Disneyland."

Jake was the very first to respond, not even waiting to seconds. "NO WAY!" He cried, looking like he was going to cry. "We're going to meet Mickey? And Donald?"

"Can we meet Pluto?" Johnny asked quickly - he'd never been anywhere outside of California by this point, and the thought of being all the way in France made him suddenly feel quite alive and excited. Better yet, it was _Disneyland_! "Can we get his autograph?"

Chris was the next to exclaim out in excitement. "No! Who cares about them? I wanna go on all the rides!"

"I wanna get _wet_ on the rides!" Carl agreed, nodding his head in agreement. "And they have to be on big rides - like, huge!"

"Aren't you excited, guys?" Johnny asked, looking at his three older brothers. He knew they were older, but still...

Matt nodded, giving him a small smile. "Of course. I've totally wanted to go since I was, like, five. And I still really wanna go now... But it's just...all my college work..."

"Oh, screw the college work!" James laughed, patting his older brother on the shoulder. "Dude, I'm not even going to bother with my homework - it's only for a week!"

"But you never do your homework," Chris pointed out, earning a few small glares from his elder brother.

Daniel shrugged. "I guess Disney's cool - so long as we don't have to do anything stupid there, like wear ears or something..."

"Well, I'm wearing ears!" Jake announced, somewhat proud of this statement. "I'm gonna look like Mickey, right Mommy?"

Jean laughed slightly, bending down to ruffle her son's hair and kiss his forehead. "Of course, son. Well, I guess since we're all happy to go to Disneyland this Summer, we can move onto the next topic of discussion." She looked around at all seven of the boys expectantly. "Who wants to help with the dishes tonight?"

All of them looked around at each other; Jake coughed. "Mommy, you said I was too young."

Jean nodded. "That I did. And you are."

The older six looked at each other, quite bothered by the thought of helping with the dishes. "Uhh...I have college homework," Matt managed, getting up out of his seat and leaving the room. "You know...being a lawyer is tough work and all."

"Yeah, and I have Math homework," James stated, nodding in agreement.

Daniel sent him a dirty look. "You just said you don't do homework."

"Well...I've seen the error of my ways, and want to do more work." He lied obviously. His mother let him leave the room, a hint of a smile on her face.

Daniel was next to come up with an excuse. "I'm starting High School next year," He said slowly, trying to come up with the perfect excuse. "I really think it'd be best if I got a head start on boosting my grades, Mom."

This left Johnny and the twins, eyes wide as they realized none of them had an excuse of any kind.

"Uhh..." Johnny mumbled, going red in the face. "I...might drop the dishes if I do it...and besides, there are two of the twins, so make them do it as a team."

Chris and Carl both sent withering looks at their older brother, both of them clearly planning on some kind of prank later to get back at him. Jean, however, was quite amused. "Well, you'll have to be extra careful then, sweetie, because all _three_ of you are helping tonight."

The only positive thing the boys could take from that night was the fact they were going to Disneyland in a couple of months.

When the Summer arrived, and the week for their vacation rolled around, Johnny could not help himself - he was absolutely ecstatic to travel somewhere new and see new things, even if it was just Paris and Disneyland. Even throughout the frightfully dull plane journey to France was he excited for the trip; all he could think about was seeing the different monuments and famous places - oh, and all of the different Disney characters, of course.

And boy, did it live up to his expectations.

Maybe it was just being in a different country, but he could immediately feel it in the air - this place was different from L.A, definitely, and it was just the perfect place to start his explorations of the world.

The first place they visited was the Eiffel Tower; this was, by far, one of the most famous places in Paris to visit, and Johnny would remember years later peering up at the monument with awe. It would have been a perfect moment, him gazing up at the building, if it hadn't been for James and Daniel leaning down, each putting a hand on his shoulder, and commenting lowly that they'd push him off the top if he dared annoyed them (they ended up being cool though).

The next place they visited was the Montparnasse tower; Johnny, who had thought that the Eiffel Tower was pretty tall, felt absolutely astounded when he saw the six-hundred and ninenty foot tall building, just gazing up at it wordlessly until his father started to nudge him forwards so that they could get a closer look. Going up in the elevator had been quite a trippy experience too - it went up fifty six floors in less than ten seconds, and the red-head felt somewhat dizzy when they reached their floor and got said that, though, the view _had_ been pretty incredible; he could see the Eiffel Tower, various palaces...just everywhere imaginable, and he _loved_ it. He started to talk animatedly to a few of his brothers and their mother about all the things he could see, and he wondered out loud what it would be like to fly and look down over such a view.

Disneyland was just as magical to the ten year old, though - but this wasn't really much of a surprise to his parents, of course.

It was like stepping into a dream; the first thing he saw was Pluto walking around, obviously taking pictures with children and signing autographs. Not even waiting for his family, he ran towards the dog as fast as he could, yelling out, "Pluto!" in a rather childish fashion; the dog saw him and waved, mouth hanging open in a wide grin. "Hi!" Johnny exclaimed, managing to skid to a halt and not knock Pluto over. "Can I...I get your autograph?"

Pluto nodded, beckoning for Johnny to come closer; the red-head handed his autograph book and a pen to the character, watching in awe as he got his first autograph. His mother appeared behind him, alone - the rest of his family were obviously waiting from further away - and nudged her son forwards. "How about we take a picture?"

The giant dog handed the book and pen back, putting a hand up to his mouth as if gasping, and nodded enthusiastically; Johnny practically tripped over in his haste to move in even closer to Pluto, and wrapped his arms as best he could around him. Pluto bent down, putting an arm on the boy's shoulder, and the two looked up at the camera with wide grins; there was a slight flash as the picture was taken, and then the red-haired boy turned back to Pluto with wide eyes. "Thank You," He said, remembering his manners. "You know, for the autograph and picture - it means a lot to me!"

Pluto mimed wiping a tear away from his eye, touched, and pulled him into one last tight hug.

"Well, thanks again!" Johnny exclaimed, shaking slightly from his first encounter with a Disney character. "I'll see you around, okay?" Pluto nodded a few times before standing up, waving one last time, and then set off for a walk again, probably to visit other children.

"That was nice, wasn't it, honey?" Jean said, putting a hand on her son's shoulder and guiding him back towards their family.

Johnny just nodded, unable to speak just yet.

"Come on," Jean continued just as they reached his father and brothers. "We've got to find some Mickey ears for your brother, and then start queuing up for some rides or we'll _never_ get on any of them."

Yeah - this trip was definitely going to be one of the best to him.

* * *

"This isn't fair! You have vampire speed - and you can fly!"

Mavis looked down at him from her position on a rock, smiling casually. "Oh, don't be a baby! It's easy!"

Johnny snorted. "To you maybe - I haven't got special monster powers or anything like you have...maybe you could carry me?"

"You'd like that a lot, wouldn't you?" Mavis asked teasingly, and her boyfriend nodded eagerly. "Well, I thought you said climbing was the fun part - I wouldn't want to stop you from having fun, would I?"

The red-head muttered mutinously under his breath but continued to walk up the footpath after his girlfriend.

"So," Mavis started brightly, pushing herself off her rock and going to walk next to him. "Where exactly are we going?"

"To the top of the mountain," Johnny said obviously, struggling not to fall over when he stepped on some slippery stones. "There's meant to be really great views from mountains - I wouldn't know, though, since I always fall off them." He let out a pant, nearly toppling over because of the backpack on his back. "Man, I need to stop eating fast food!"

"If you fall, I'll catch you," The vampire assured him sweetly, watching his stumbles in a bemused way. "And besides, you still look as handsome and fit as ever...then again, I'm not a fitness person, so I'm not really that great a person to ask."

By this point, the couple had been climbing for roughly two or three hours - they'd lost track of the time - and because it was night-time, they couldn't see exactly how much further up it was. Johnny had suggested the idea that evening, saying that there'd be a great view for them to experience once they reached the top. However, they had to be careful - if the Sun rose before they could find shelter again, then Mavis could end up severely injured...or worse.

"How much further up is it anyway?" Mavis asked curiously, squinting up at the mountain in the dark. "It didn't look all that high when we started this evening."

"It can't be much," Johnny agreed - although it was more hopeful than certain. "Let's keep going...if the Sun starts coming up, we'll have to find shelter somewhere."

"I could fly us down," Mavis offered easily, beaming at him and showing off her fangs. "It's no big deal - I've carried way heavier than you and a backpack before. _Trust me._ "

Johnny smiled in thanks. "Cool! Well, that gives us a little more time, I guess..." He had no choice but to trail off in his sentence, because seconds after he had started speaking he found himself looking forwards at nothing but flat land - they'd arrived at the top. "Yes! Come on, we're there!"

The vampire gave a whoop of excitement and raced past her boyfriend to take a better look at the view from the mountain. "Wow!...This is...wow!"

Johnny gave one last groan of exertion, heaving the rest of his backpack up with him, and looked around as well with wide, curious eyes. "Awesome," He muttered, clearly impressed with the view. "I've totally never been up here before, but my brother James told me that he'd heard about it or something."

"This is even better than the view from the hotel!" Mavis stated in awe, eyes shining as she moved slightly closer to the edge of the mountain to gaze down at the nearby towns and villages. "Look, you can see the airport we came from! And, over there, it's that beach we went to a couple of nights ago!"

The human nodded eagerly, dumping his backpack on the floor before stretching to regain some feeling in his muscles. As much as he loved his backpack, it really was too heavy to carry around all the time. "Yeah...it's pretty great, but you haven't seen the Taaj...or the pyramids in Egypt!"

"We've got to go to those places," The vampire agreed eagerly, nodding her head and grinning. "Hey, when we go to Egypt, we could maybe visit my Uncle Murray...well," She laughed to herself. "That's if he isn't at the hotel when we go...or if he hasn't moved pyramids again."

"Oh, does he move a lot?"

Mavis nodded, giggling slightly. "He says it's because he likes to meet all of the different Mummies...the _female_ Mummies, it would appear."

 _Her Uncle Murray knows where it's at._ "I've totally got to party with him," Johnny said aloud, and his girlfriend raised an eyebrow. "I mean, he sounds like a fun dude...yeah, h-he plays guitar, right? We should totally have, like, a jamming session or something while we're there."

"Hmm," Mavis muttered, clearly not believing this was what he meant. "I thought that's what you meant."


	21. U - Unfair

Being a monster hotel, Hotel Transylvania had to put up with it's fair share of monster inspectors. The inspectors would visit every couple of decades or so, usually shooting Count Dracula some kind of disapproving look for no reason - but they'd always leave glowing review at the end of their week long stays. Back before the arrival of a certain human, the inspectors had come and gone, leaving the hotel open for yet another few decades.

Now, as some people are aware, not all monsters take so kindly to the presence of humans.

Unfortunately for Johnny, he was forever known as 'that human', even after Mavis had changed him before their wedding. This wouldn't really have bothered him all that much - if being 'that human' was not some kind of degrading insult, of course - but he knew that retaliating would either cause a monster to lash out and report him to some kind of higher power, or cause one of the ominous hotel inspectors to shut down the hotel during one of their inspections. Because of this, whenever they were due to visit, Mavis and Johnny had decided it would be best to just keep their family away from the hotel during that week, just in case.

There's only so much a person could take though, even if that person _was_ the usually laid-back Johnny.

Two months after Jack turned ninety-one (similar to a human's age of fourteen, as Johnny decided), an inspector was due to arrive at the hotel. Unfortunately, the family only got word of this after they'd arrived for a stay, so they had no choice but to hurriedly try to unpack all of their belongings and try to leave as soon as they could.

However, a certain vampire child's curiosity caught them out the afternoon of their would-be escape.

"Uhh...Jack?" Lucy whispered to her brother nervously, putting the magazine she'd been reading down on her suitcase. "Where's Mina?"

Jack looked up from his book and gazed around the hotel with alert brown eyes. "Umm...with Mom and Dad?"

The red-head shook her head. "No. They left her here with us, so they could get their bags."

The siblings looked at each other for a moment before snapping into action; Lucy morphed into her bat form and flew to the other end of the lobby to search for their little sister, while Jack simply ran in the opposite direction, book still in his hand.

"Mina?" Lucy called, blue eyes searching through all of the different monster guests.

"Mina!" Jack shouted, trying to make himself heard as he pushed through a throng of guests worriedly.

The next thing he knew he was bumping straight into his father; the two clumsily fell to the floor, Jack's book falling out of his hands, and they lett out identical 'oomph!'s in an almost comical way.

Mavis appeared seconds later, and looked down at the two with a somewhat amused expression. "You guys alright down there?" She laughed, and both of the other vampires clambered to their feet quickly, Jack reaching to pick up his book. "Anyway, what are you doing over here? We're meant to be leaving in a quiet wa-"

"Mina's gone," Jack blurted, cringing when both of his parents just stared at him. "Hey, it's not _my_ fault - Lucy's the oldest! It was totally her job!"

Johnny and Mavis looked at each other, smiles fading completely as the panic started to set in. "What do you mean 'gone'?" Johnny asked, eyes wide. "Where's Lu now?"

Jack blinked, slowly lifting a finger in the general direction his eldest sister had gone in. "She's looking too..."

Mavis was visibly starting to panic; judging by her wide eyes and even paler than usual skin, her husband briefly wondered if she'd gone into shock. "Look, she's probably just with some of the guests," He assured her quickly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I mean, you know how she loves playing with that Yeti family, the ones in Room-"

Before he could finish his sentence, his wife had morphed into her bat form and was already flying across the lobby. "We've got to look for her!" She called over her shoulder worriedly, already in full-blown panic mode. While she knew that none of the guests would even dream of hurting any of her children (let alone the tiny little Mina), some of them were quite large...what if one stepped on her accidentally?

Before she could fret more on that thought, Mavis bumped into another bat; judging by the bright red fur and blue eyes, it was immediately clear that it was Lucy who she'd just collided with. "Mom!" Lucy cried, voice higher than usual. She looked around, as if an excuse would appear out of thin air. "I was just...you know...taking a quick flight before we left! Stretching my wings and all!"

"I know that your sister is missing," Mavis said dryly, and her eldest daughter's shoulders slumped. "And let me tell you now, you and your brother are going to be in so much trouble when we get ho-"

A high-pitched child's shriek cut her off. Both bats looked down and around the lobby, trying to see where it had come from; a second scream and the direction that some of the monsters in the lobby started to head towards lead them to the check-out desk. The mother and daughter morphed back before pushing through the crowd to try and find the youngest vampire child.

The first thing they saw was a tall and stunning female vampire with flowing brown hair and emerald green eyes; she was dressed in a long, sleek black dress that reached past her feet, giving her a regal look, and she had a gold necklace around her neck with a red jewel of some kind shining on top of her chest. She was definitely attractive, no doubt about it, although she would have been more so if she hadn't been wearing such an unpleasant scowl on her face in that moment.

"Whose child is this?" She snarled, voice cold. That was when everyone's attention was turned to a struggling child next to her; the dark-haired vampire child was squirming uncomfortably, and upon further inspection it was clear that the brunette vampire had an iron-tight grip on her wrist.

Before Mavis could step in, another voice stopped her. "Err...she's my daughter." Everyone turned, only to see Johnny standing there; Jack was next to him, and it was clear that they'd only just managed to make their way through the crowd.

The tall vampiress spun to face him, eyes narrowed dangerously. " _Your_ daughter?"

Johnny nodded meekly.

"Well, you should learn to have better control over your young!" She said coldly, and thrust Mina towards him. Mina stumbled and fell to the floor in front of her father and brother, immediately crawling closer to them for safety. "The little brat ran straight into me as I checked in!"

Johnny opened his mouth, only to be interrupted by a different stern voice - this time one that was much more welcome to him. "Yes, well, she is young," Dracula argued calmly, the crowd that had previously formed parting so that he could walk through. "She has much to learn...Ava, if I'm correct?"

The vampiress - Ava - straightened up even more. "You have to have control over young ones and discipline them - they'll never learn if they don't."

The Count took a step closer, demeanour suddenly more threatening. "That is not your decision to make," He said coldly. "And if you _ever_ lay a hand on any of my grandchildren again, I'll make sure that you are _very_ sorry."

Ava's mouth fell open slightly, eyebrows furrowed in utter disbelief. " _She_ 's your granddaughter?" She snarled, glaring back down at Mina; her eyes glowed a dangerous shade of red. Mina shuddered slightly on the spot, clinging to her brother's leg as if it were a teddy bear. " _She_ is... _that_ _human's_ spawn?"

She focused her glare on Johnny, who couldn't help but flinch slightly on the spot. Jack hurriedly bent down and pulled his little sister into his arms - he could sense a fight brewing like a potion.

Mavis stepped forwards, glaring at the new vampire. "That's also _my_ daughter you're talking about," She seethed, going into over-protective mode. She never thought she'd be as over-protective as her father, but now...now she could see exactly why he'd been like that with her. " _My_ family - who are _you_ to come into our hotel and judge us?"

Ava, surprisingly, smiled at the dark-haired vampire woman in a silkily sweet way that gave away more bad than good. "Oh, just a hotel inspector."

There was a gasp from the majority of the crowd, and muttering started to be heard amongst them; only Dracula seemed unfazed, clearly knowing who she'd been since the very start of the conversation.

Mavis, though quite surprised that it was the hotel inspector she was talking to, continued to frown. "So? You still have no right to treat my daughter like that!"

Ava gave Mavis a sly smile, bearing pearly white fangs. "And despite the fact that you're the owner's daughter - the one person who should care about the guests - you still continue to put everyone in our world in danger."

"She's NOT dangerous," Jack protested suddenly, getting the wrong idea. "She's...Mina is a baby, for goodness sake!"

Mina frowned at him seriously, quite offended. "I'm _not_ a baby, Jack! I'm thirty-one now!"

"She's harmless," One of the guests - a fly - agreed, nodding his head.

"My son, Big Junior, plays with her all the time!" A Yeti mother stated, also nodding and smiling.

It was obvious that the brunette hotel inspector was not happy with the turn of conversation. "I didn't mean the little brat, I meant the human!" She pointed at Johnny and glared again. "He's dangerous to us!"

"Look, I know that my clothes stink bad sometimes," Johnny muttered. "But it's not _that_ bad once you get used to it!"

"My husband isn't a human," Mavis argued impatiently, rolling her eyes. "I changed him before our wedding, over a hundred years ago."

"Oh! Yeah!" The red-head nodded, as if it proved the point. "See? I still have the marks where she bit me." He pointed to said marks, grinning around at everyone.

Dracula couldn't help but roll his eyes as well, this time at his son-in-law's behaviour. "Look," He said, trying to keep calm - he really didn't want to lose his hotel, even if it meant he had to be nice to such a...well, horrible guest. "Johnny has been staying at this hotel for over a hundred years, and he's never heard anyone-"

"I didn't hurt anyone when I was human either," Johnny added, ignoring when the Count glared at him.

"He's harmless," The older vampire stated, directing it both at Ava and the other guests. "So there's no need to worry." He turned back to Ava, giving her a fake smile that matched his fake politeness. "Now, I will call one of the zombies from behind the desk to take you up to your room, and then they will bring your belongings for you."

"Thank You," Ava said, also in a fake polite tone, before turning to Mavis and giving her a rather thin smile. "It looks like we'll be seeing a lot of each other then, doesn't it?"

"Actually, we were just leaving," Lucy blurted before her mother could speak.

Ava raised a curved eyebrow. "I see. So it has nothing to do with me or the human?"

"Our Dad isn't a human," Jack mumbled as the rest of the guests started to disperse; he moved closer to his older sister and passed Mina to her.

"We have to get home," Mavis said, taking over and trying to fix the situation. "We have things we need to do."

The brunette vampire looked between the family members, clearly not pleased. "But surely you can stay to see how the inspection goes? And I would very much like to talk to the famous Count Dracula's daughter...and his grandchildren, of course."

The kids all looked at Mavis, too terrified to say anything in case it got them in more trouble. "Well," The dark-haired vampire started hesitantly. "I...we weren't planning on it, but...but I suppose we could stay a couple more days."

"Lovely," Ava flashed them a smile. "I'll see you around...oh, and please keep your kids under control."

As she stalked away, head held high in a regal pose, Mavis and the kids looked at each other nervously.

"Why did you say we could stay?" Lucy demanded to know, looking angry. "You know she doesn't like us for some reason!"

"She's awful," Jack agreed, a panicked expression on his face. "She's going to shut the hotel for no reason!"

"She scares me," Mina murmured, nuzzling into Lucy's neck. "I don't like her."

It was only then that Mavis realized her husband was still standing by the front desk, looking quite grey and as if he'd gone into shock. "Uhh...we'll talk later," She decided, trying to think of a way to get her husband alone for a moment. "Why don't you guys find a zombie to take our stuff back to our rooms, and I'll meet you up there? Oh, and you two," She narrowed her eyes slightly at her two eldest. "We _will_ be talking about not watching your sister later." Lucy and Jack sighed but nodded, already turning around and slowly walking back to where they'd left all of their bags.

Mavis walked up to Johnny, resisting the urge to sigh when she realized he was slumped over. "You know she won't do anything," She said quietly, stopping in front of him. "My dad won't let her...and besides, she was wrong about the whole human thing, so there's no reason to be upset over that."

Johnny just shrugged, looking quite put out. "Yeah, but...I'm a vampire. And, like, how does she know I used to be human?"

"Uhh...maybe because I'm _the_ Count Dracula's daughter," Mavis stated as if it were obvious. "You know how the monster tabloids like to report about me...they can't get much on Dad, since he hardly leaves and he's too busy for interviews, so they try going for me." She put a hand in his, giving it a tight, comforting squeeze. "Come on, we've got to unpack again. It looks like we're going to be staying another few days."

The red-head brightened up at this. "So does this mean I can beat you in a chicken-fight?"

Mavis smirked as they started to walk, hand-in-hand. "Only in your dreams."

* * *

Over the next couple of days, however, it didn't get much better; everywhere he went, Johnny found himself being glared at in some way by Ava. He tried to ignore it, knowing that retaliation would only cause her to lash out and put the hotel out of business or something...and besides, he thought optimistically, if he was completely good then maybe she'd see that side of him and stop hating him so much.

To distract himself (and to, admittedly, appear as your average monster dad) he made sure to spend as much time with his kids as possible, playing or talking or just doing _something_ so that he wasn't thinking too much about the hotel inspector and her views.

One morning changed everything for him, though, and he snapped.

"The sky's looking kind of bright," Mavis murmured, squinting up at the air. "I think we should get the kids inside, Johnny."

"Yeah, in a sec!" He called, and she looked to see what he was doing; Mina was on his shoulders, squealing loudly and holding a ball in her hands. "Okay, now throw it above Jack's head and to Lu!"

"This isn't fair!" Jack protested, glaring at his family half-heartedly. "When she's on your shoulders she's way too tall!"

Mina, in response, stuck her tongue out at her older brother.

"I'm missing a good book for this?" He grumbled to himself, folding his arms grumpily.

"I'm getting out soon anyway," Lucy said, stretching her arms out. "It's getting brighter - and besides, I'm too tired to do much...and I'm getting _wrinkles_."

"Kill joy," Mina muttered loudly and Johnny laughed, causing the eldest vampire child to scowl. It didn't last long though, since Mina threw the ball for her to catch and the red-haired vampiress ended up getting hit in the face. "You should have been looking!"

Jack looked up at the sky and yawned. "I think Lu has a point. The Sun's coming up, and I'm so not getting caught out here when it's fully risen."

Johnny lifted his daughter off his shoulder and set her on the edge of the pool. "We'll finish tomorrow night," He assured her, giving her a grin. "Go get your towel and go inside now, okay?"

Mina pouted but nodded, clearly not wanting to head off to bed yet. "Can I go to the kitchen and get some candy? I promise I'll brush my fangs extra-good if I can!"

"Uhh...oh, alright!" He chuckled, and she giggled in delight as she stood up to go and get said treat.

Mavis tutted jokingly from where she was lounging in a pool chair. "You spoil her, you know," She stated, shaking her head.

"Oh, like _your_ dad didn't spoil you," Johnny retorted good-naturedly, hoisting himself out of the pool after his other two children. "And he spoils all of our kids too...not that I'm complaining much." He stood up and grabbed a towel from the back of a nearby chair, running it through his wet hair. "So, still worrying about that hotel lady?"

The other vampire sighed, nodding. "Yeah. I don't know...we always do so well, and I just...this hotel is one of my homes, and if it gets shut or anything..." She shook her head, trying to rid herself of all negative thoughts. "I always worry," She admitted sheepishly, standing up so that she could go indoors as well.

"Worrying does no good," The red-head reminded her cheerfully and following after her. "Anyway, I'm beat. I think I'm just gonna head to bed or something, 'cause I'm gonna collapse or something if I don't..."

"You better hope Lu doesn't try sneaking out again tonight," Mavis mused. "You'd think after getting caught every time she'd give up, but no."

Just before they could shut the pool door after them, a tiny figure wondered past them, humming to herself. "Mina?" Johnny asked, surprised. "Mina, I thought I told you to go inside."

Mina nodded. "I know, but I left my Martha-bat out here. I can't leave her out here in the Sun, Daddy, or she'll burn!"

"I didn't see her out here," Johnny said, frowning slightly. "Do you need help looking?" Mina nodded eagerly, already heading to look around the area.

"I'll leave you two to it," Mavis decided, yawning and continuing inside. "Remember, don't stay out too long!"

"I know!" Johnny called back, rolling his eyes slightly. "God, you'd think she'd know..." He started to look under some of the pool tables, looking for the toy his youngest daughter was overly fond of.

It was odd, as the red-head discovered moments later: there was no sign of the bat toy that belonged to Mina, but he could remember her bringing it with her down to the pool... _She must have left it with Mavis or something when we went in the pool_...

Mina seemed to have realized this too, and her bottom lip started to wobble. "We can't find her!" She sniffled, looking thoroughly terrified. "What if the Sun gets her and burns her?"

Johnny, at the mention of the Sun, looked up at the sky nervously; it was rising higher and higher, and it wouldn't be too long until it reached them. "Maybe one of the guests brought her inside," He suggested, trying to think of a way to get them both indoors without any injuries occurring. "Yeah, they might have left her at the desk or something."

The child sighed but nodded, allowing her father to pick her up and carry her inside. "I don't want her to get hurt," She murmured, quite upset. "And I can't sleep without her, Daddy."

"I know," He said soothingly, making sure to shut the door to the pool behind him. "We'll find her before bedtime. You know we've just checked the pool, and she's not there so she won't be out there when the Sun comes up, will she?" Mina shook her head slowly, and Johnny put her down on the floor. "How about you head to the kitchen to get some candy, and I'll head to the front desk so I can find Martha-bat? Sound good?"

Mina nodded, giving him a bright, thankful smile, and raced away so that she could get some candy. _Great...now I just need to find the bat._

However, this wasn't nearly as easy as he had thought it to be; down at the front desk, the zombies had just shook their heads when he mentioned a bat toy - one of them had held up a shoe, as if asking this was what he wanted, but it appeared that no one had handed in the plush bat toy.

"Crap," He muttered to himself, trying to think where it could be. _So it was definitely by the pool...maybe one of the guests had a kid with them, and the kid took it with them to their room...but I can't go through every single room, it's nearly daytime...I can't go back without the toy, though. Mina will be heartbroken without it_.

Before he could ponder anymore on it, however, an ear-piercing shriek seemed to shake through the hotel...and he knew immediately who it was.

Panicking, he turned into his bat form and started clumsily flapping through the corridors to find where the screaming was coming from...every few seconds a sob would sound before another shriek, and it was painful for him to hear. It was only a minute or so later when he found himself flying into the room connected to the door to the pool, and there was a huge crowd gathered. He immediately spotted Mavis and morphed back before pushing through various monsters to get to her.

"What's going on?" He asked quickly, looking around. Lucy and Jack were both there too; Lucy was crying, looking absolutely terrified, and even Jack looked quite scared as to what was happening. "Where's Mina?"

"S-She's outside," Mavis stuttered, trying to edge closer to the door: a ray of light stopped her, and she let out a yell of despair. "WE HAVE TO GO OUT THERE AND GET HER!"

"I'll go!" They heard a voice above them say, and they realized Frank had been standing nearby; the tall flesh-golem started to push through the crowd of monster hurriedly. "ALRIGHT! EVERYONE MOVE!"

There was no hesitance - all of the guests stopped talking and parted to let Frank push through to the door. Johnny pulled his family further away from the door forcefully, not wanting them to get hurt too. As their friend went outside and shut the door behind him, the red-head couldn't help but get visions of how his father-in-law had looked all those years ago after going out in the Sun...if that had happened to a tough older vampire, what would it have done to a tiny child?

It was one painfully slow minute before the door opened again and Frank came back in; he was carrying something carefully in his arms, as if shielding it, and he kicked the door shut before turning to find Johnny and Mavis. "I've got her," He said quickly, and he stretched out his arms for them to take her.

Mavis was the one who took Mina into her arms, and she started to cry out of both relief and shock; the vampire child was covered in red marks and burns, her clothes having singed holes in them, and she was sobbing at the pain. "It hurts, Mommy!" She cried tearfully, clinging to Mavis tightly. "M-M-Make it stop!"

Frank looked around at the other guests. "Come on, give them some room!"

"Thank Goodness you're okay," Lucy breathed, wiping her eyes, and even their brother looked quite shaken by the experience.

"What on Earth were you doing out in the Sun?" Mavis questioned, clutching Mina to her chest. She didn't wait for an answer though; she turned to face her husband, annoyed at him. "You were meant to stay with her!"

"I did!" Johnny argued, feeling that this was rather unfair. "I told her to come inside, and she did...she must have gone back outside or something!"

Mina lifted her head - the burn marks, luckily, were starting to heal and fade on her skin. "I saw Martha-bat," She mumbled, sniffling lightly. "S-She was on the floor, with some candy...a-a-and..."

This didn't make much sense to any of her family members, but they decided silently that she was probably just delirious from her experience. The crowd of monsters parted, and Count Dracula came rushing to see what was going on: his eyes widened as he took in the situation.

"Let me hold her," He cooed, and he hurriedly pulled Mina into his arms. "Oh, you poor little bat...you'll be okay, baby, you will..." He looked around at all the guests, knowing they were probably waiting to see if he blamed anyone or something. "I don't care how she got hurt - as long as she is no longer in pain, then it...it will be fine."

"But it's not," Another voice said, and everyone turned: this time, it was a stern, brunette vampiress, who looked quite disgusted as she eyed up Johnny. "You see now, everyone? Humans are incapable of even the simplest tasks, such as looking after the young-"

And that was it - Johnny had had enough.

"Shut up!" He interrupted, glaring at Ava. The other vampire froze in shock, not used to being treated in such a manner. "First thing: I'm. Not. A. Human. You see these?" He opened his mouth wide and pointed to his fangs. "Yeah! I'm a vampire now!"

"But you used to be a human," Ava reiterated coolly. "And your hatred still hasn't-"

"What hatred?!" Johnny snapped in a rather uncharacteristic way. "I'm a vampire now! I'm married to another vampire and our kids are all vamps too! My friends are all monsters!" He threw his hands into the air out of defeat. "I never _hated_ anyone at this hotel, not even when that weird guy tried to eat me, and I totally never thought I would...but then _you_ walked in and just changed that!"

Several monsters, including his family, gasped, shocked by his admission. Ava glared at him, eyes hard and cold with hatred. "And yet," She said coldly, sending chills up his spine. "It's not my youngest child who is burnt all over."

This time, it was Lucy who spoke up and stepped in. "Mina's healing quickly," She pointed out, trying not to show any bias towards her father's side of the argument. "She's going to be perfectly fine - a little weak and shaken, perhaps, but otherwise fine."

Everyone turned to look at Mina; true to Lucy's word, she was perfectly pale again now, and had even started to fiddle with the neck of Dracula's cape happily.

"I think it has been a long night," Dracula said slowly, knowing that only his word would put a complete stop to the confrontation going on. "I think we should all return back to our hotel rooms and rest until the night."

There were a few grumbles, some monsters clearly wanting to hear more about what had happened, but everyone started to slowly leave the room to get some sleep; it truly had been a long night.

Johnny turned to look at Mavis, scratching the back of his neck. "Look, I brought her inside," He insisted desperately. "I sent her to the kitchen to get some candy while I looked for her bat, and she must have gone back to look again."

"You shouldn't have sent her to the kitchen on her own," Mavis retorted, clearly not ready to completely forgive him yet. "She's only thirty one, Johnny - of course she would wonder off! And it's a big hotel too - she could have gotten lost!"

"No," The red-head disagreed, snorting slightly at the idea. "She knows this place like the back of her hand, Mavis, just as well as you do."

"That's no excuse!" She snapped, turning away from him swiftly and towards their children and Dracula. "We need to get some rest - Dad, can you bring Mina upstairs for me?"

Dracula nodded wordlessly, knowing his daughter was not in a good place at that moment.

She sighed, looking down at the floor. "Lu, Jack, can you guys go to your rooms? I'll be up in a minute."

"Sure thing, Mom," Jack agreed quickly, turning into bat form and flying away quickly.

Lucy looked at her mother for a moment, wondering is she should say something to comfort her - when nothing came to mind, she just nodded and morphed into her mist form before floating away.

"I'll just...bring Mina upstairs," Dracula decided quietly. "Will you be alright, Mavy?"

Mavis nodded, not looking at him.

The older vampire looked between his daughter and son-in-law; he, too, had no words in that moment. "Come on, baby bat," He murmured to his granddaughter as he walked out of the room and left the two alone. "I'll tell you about your Grandmother."

"What about my bat?" Mina asked tiredly.

Dracula paused, thinking for a moment. "Ehh...I shall get one of the zombies to get it."

Johnny looked at his wife as they left, sighing heavily. "It's not my fault," He stated quietly. "I told you, she...she must have gone outside again and not realized about the Sun." He stopped, an idea occurring to him. "You don't think...that I did that on purpose, do you?"

Mavis looked down at the floor, shaking her head. "No. Not really."

 _Well, that's kind of a relief._ "I'm sorry," He apologized sadly, scuffing his shoes against the carpet guiltily. "For letting her go around alone...and for snapping at that crazy lady. Maybe she won't do anything bad to the hotel, you know, to punish us."

His wife shrugged, clearly at a loss for words. "She hates us, for some reason. That's why she wanted us to stay, and I should have known...but she's just..."

"Too scary to say 'no' to," Johnny finished, nodding in agreement.

Mavis leaned against a wall, folding her arms across her chest protectively. "We might lose our home," She sighed, trying to hold back tears. "None of the monsters will have a safe place to go to every year if we're shut down; my dad will lose his job _and_ home. And the kids...they won't have this castle to come back to, to have when they're older."

"It'll still be here," The red-head said defiantly, moving forwards to put his arms around her. Her anger melted away, all bad thoughts forgotten; she tightly hugged him back, a few tears rolling down her face as she burrowed into him. "Whatever it takes, we'll make sure that crazy lady doesn't shut down the hotel. She can't shut us down for this - I mean, what's she gonna put?"

"That you argued with her," Mavis replied, voice muffled by his chest. "And that because you're a human then you're dangerous or something."

"Well, she's gonna look real stupid," He muttered darkly. "'cause the monsters reading the report will investigate it or whatever and see that I'm a _vampire_."

It was all so unfair. It was unfair that Johnny was still referred to as 'that human' when he wasn't a human anymore, and when it was an insult. It was unfair that their hotel might be shut down because of false claims of the hotel being dangerous, and that all of Dracula's hard work might go to waste.

It was unfair that Johnny was being blamed for an unfortunate accident that wasn't his fault - that the person who was casting the blame was actually the person who had caused the accident.


	22. V - Vampire

There didn't seem to be anything strange about Mavis...she was nice, she seemed to adore Johnny more than anything, and the red-head seemed to reciprocate these feelings...

_Then why do I feel torn about it? Oh yeah...because she's a vampire._

Jean was usually a fair woman, she really was; she believed in giving people chances and not judging just based on appearances or a person's background. But she was first and foremost a mother - she loved her sons more than anything, and would do anything to make sure that they got the best chances they could in life, to keep them as safe as she possibly could. She wasn't too overprotective either; she'd let her sons move on with their lives and start their careers - Hell, she'd let Johnny travel the world since he was eighteen.

When Mavis had first arrived, she'd of course taken a liking to her; she'd seen Johnny have some trouble with girls in the past, ranging from embarrassing them on dates to just not calling back after a kiss because he was in another country. To see her son _engaged_ and _happy_ with a girl was enough to convince her that Mavis was good for her son. As she got to know Mavis, she seemed like a nice girl, was friendly, got on relatively well with all of her other sons, and was just...sweet.

Everything would have been perfect, if only they hadn't revealed a certain fact a few days later. After she'd left the room, unable to sort out her thoughts on the spot, Jean had retreated to her bedroom to lie down and think on it; what was she to do in this situation?

On the one hand, Mavis was a _vampire_ ; vampires sucked people's blood out, they were _monsters_...they were meant to be fictional characters from books, not standing in front of her and engaged to one of her sons! She wondered how Johnny could be so blind to the fact that there was the chance he'd get bitten and die, or to the fact that all of this was just absurd.

But then she remembered the adoring look on Johnny's face when he looked at Mavis, and the sweet story that they'd told about how they'd met. She immediately felt guilty for assuming the absolute worst, although there was the sense of dread in the pit of her stomach still that something was going to go wrong.

They'd mentioned changing him...what would that mean? Would her son become a blood-sucking monster too? What about visiting home - Mavis couldn't go out in the sunlight, so would that mean Johnny wouldn't be able to? After all, L.A was rather sunny and bright...he wouldn't be able to visit as often, if at all.

 _Maybe it just means I have to visit him, wherever they're going to live,_ She tried to think optimistically. _Although, they mentioned slow-aging...he'd live long after us...I guess that gives him more time to explore._

That still didn't make her feel better about the whole 'my-son-is-engaged-to-a-vampire' aspect. She knew that they'd said Mavis wouldn't hurt him, and that if she'd wanted to then she had had four years to do so - but what if she lost control before she could change him? Or worse, she bit him and then lost control?

 _No. Don't think about that,_ She scolded herself, getting rid of the thought. _He trusts her, so...so I guess I have to trust her too._

The revelation made her sigh; she wanted to trust Mavis, and she knew her son did, but she still couldn't help but wonder if it was the right decision. It was really not her decision what any of her sons did with their lives anymore, and she had to just hope that they made the right choices in their lives, that she'd done the right things while raising them.

Johnny was in his mid-twenties; he was perfectly capable of choosing what he did with his life...even if it _did_ sound potentially dangerous. _It wouldn't be the first time he's wanted to do something dangerous_ , Jean mused, remembering some of the things he'd mentioned doing over his travels in the past several years.

She wasn't sure about the decision - at all - but she knew that she had no power to change anyone's mind. Her son was happy, and for now, that was enough.

* * *

The night that she was dreading seemed to come too soon - the day she had to change her fiancée. Although Mavis had been told over and over again by her father that Johnny would be okay, she couldn't help but feel slightly nervous about it - what if it wasn't okay? What if she did it wrong and he bled to death or something?

Johnny, however, had seemed overjoyed about it; the night it was due to happen, he was strolling around the hotel with a large grin on his face, eyes wide with childlike excitement as to what was to come. He also started asking Mavis what would happen in great detail, so he was as prepared as he could be, and about how long it would take for all the different powers to develop.

"Well, it's not immediate," Mavis admitted - she'd been looking it up, so that she could answer any questions. "I mean, I wasn't born with all these powers...I'm still developing some, actually."

"When can I sit on the ceiling?" Johnny asked eagerly. "Oh, wait, no! When can I turn into a bat? No, wait! When do I get the hypno-eyes?"

The vampire just shook her head, somewhat amused by this - for a moment, she forgot what she was going to have to do. "It's different for each vampire - most vampires start wall-crawling and turning into bats when they're little...then again, we're born with it, so...I don't know how long it'll be for you."

"I can't wait," Johnny said, grinning wildly. "Can we do it now?"

"No," She shook her head, bemused smile disappearing. "We're waiting for my Dad; that was the deal."

"Well, where is he?"

Mavis sighed, shrugging. "I think he's dealing with some guests tonight...he told me he'd try and help us after Lunch, but there's no telling how long he'll be with the guests."

She really didn't want to do this; there was so much she loved about having a human lover. For example, she found that he was rather warm, and snuggling up with him was a lot like cuddling a radiator (that snored lightly in its' sleep). He could also go out in the Sun, unlike her, and by changing him it meant that nothing at all could be done during daylight hours - she wouldn't even be able to hide his backpack, if need be. He wouldn't be able to see his family or loved ones...hell, some of them were probably still angry at her about what she was and what she was doing.

Lunch time seemed to come at a pace that was far too fast for Mavis' liking; just as the two had been in the middle of eating, Dracula had approached the table they were at and announced that he was ready when they were.

Johnny, excited, dropped his sandwich. "Cool! Can we do it now?"

"No," Dracula disagreed, shaking his head. "Eat."

"But I'm not hungry!" The red-head whined in a rather childish way. "Drac, surely eating would be bad...like, wouldn't it make me barf or something?"

The Count shook his head again, looking quite grim as he said the next part. "No. You need to eat to keep your strength up - there's not telling how this will go."

"What does that mean?" Mavis asked, suddenly quite scared; maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all. "Dad, you said it would be safe-"

"It is!" Dracula interrupted hurriedly, not wanting to alarm his daughter. "But different people, they react...differently. Some faint, some just shut their eyes and open them...I don't know. I've never done this kind of thing before."

"So, who's actually biting me?" Johnny asked, picking up his sandwich grudgingly and biting into the rest of it. "I don't mind...Although, I'd totally prefer Mavis to do it. No offence, Drac."

Dracula gave a small smile at this. "None taken. No, I must say, Johnny, I don't particularly want to bite your neck." He looked at his daughter, smile fading; he was asking her if she wanted to be the one to do it.

She didn't really - what if she did it wrong? She was only young...and she couldn't bear the thought of it going wrong and her fiancée ending up killed in the process. But Johnny was looking at her hopefully, an innocent and childish excitement in his eyes at the very thought of her turning him; her Dad was waiting for an answer too, and she knew that if she didn't do it then he would do it for her.

But that wasn't what she wanted: Johnny was her fiancée, her zing, so she had to. "Alright," She agreed quietly, not looking at either of them. "As long as you help, Dad."

Dracula seemed to understand this was hard for her because he nodded and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Of course, Mavy," He said, giving a small nod. "I shall leave you two to finish eating...Johnny, where would you like to be changed?"

The human blinked for a moment, thinking. "Uhhh...I can choose?"

"Yes. After all, you are the one being bitten here."

Johnny grinned. "Awesome. So...let's see..." He tilted his head to the side in thought, clearly trying to remember all the different places. "Can we do it in Mavis' room? I mean, it's nice and stuff up there, so..."

"How would you know?" Dracula asked, a little jokingly. "I thought I said you weren't to go up there, Johnny."

Johnny went bright red - that was another thing Mavis would miss about him being human. "Well...I mean...we're getting married, Drac! Give me a break!"

The older vampire just chuckled, patting his daughter's fiancée on the shoulder. "Alright, I get it! I was your age once too, you know. Well, obviously not _your_ age, but you get the picture."

Lunch passed just as quickly; it seemed like only a minute or two later that the two were heading for Mavis' room where Dracula was making preparations for the event (what this meant, neither of them knew yet), their hands tightly clasped together as they walked. Occasionally Johnny would say something along the lines of, "I can't believe it's actually happening!" or "It's gonna be totally awesome, Mavy!". Mavis was silent the entire way upstairs; he was excited, and she didn't want to take that away from him by saying how nervous she was.

"So, how does this work?" Johnny asked once they'd entered her room, and Mavis shut the door behind them. The only light in the room was candles that had been lit, giving the bedroom quite a dim and romantic glow. "Do I have to lie on the bed or what?"

"It would be best if you were lying on the bed, yes," Dracula answered from across the room; he gazed out of the window at the night sky. It was somewhat calming to him to see such a clear dark sky filled with stars.

Johnny did so, a large grin on his face. "Kay...Now what?"

Mavis looked at her father for guidance. "I guess...we should just do it then." She looked at her fiancée worriedly, deciding it was best to check. "You really want this, Johnny? Because there's no turning back."

"I was born ready," Johnny said, nodding eagerly.

"It's going to hurt," Dracula informed him quietly, looking back at the two. "I don't know how long for, or how much, but it will hurt."

The human scoffed. "Well, duh! You don't think I thought the whole thing out before asking?"

"Well then, we can go ahead," The Count decided, giving him a small smile. "Mavis, come and stand here...I'll show you what to do."

Mavis moved to stand next to the bed, not looking at either Johnny or her father. "Where do I do it?" She asked, and she couldn't help but eye Johnny's neck; surely a neck bite would kill him?

Dracula seemed to understand what her eying up meant, and gave her an assuring pat on the shoulder. "On the neck...but not too high up, or on a pulse point. You see how this bit here, near the middle, is where you can feel a heartbeat? Don't bite there."

As the older vampire's fingers danced on his neck, Johnny couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "That tickles!"

"Bite lower down," Dracula continued, trailing his finger down to show her. "Around here, on the left side. That way it will get into his bloodstream, but not make him bleed to death? Do you understand, Mavy?"

"I...I think so," Mavis said, eyes trained on the spot she was going to do it on. "And I just have to bite him - not enough to make him bleed, but enough to...to get it done?"

The Count nodded and gave her an encouraging smile. "You've got it. Now," He took a step back, as if to leave the room, and the dark haired vampire started to panic. "I think I should leave you two alone...I'll wait outside," He added quickly, seeing the looks of panic he was receiving. "But this...it seems like a personal thing, so..." He stopped by the door and straightened up. "If anything goes wrong, just call me and I'll come back in."

As he left, Mavis turned back to Johnny and sighed. "I just...I don't want this to go wrong."

"Yeah, well, I kinda don't want it to either," Johnny joked before putting a hand on hers. "It's gonna be fine. I trust you."

Looking into his eyes, she could just tell that he _did_ completely trust her - he was practically putting his life into her hands, and she just hoped she could do the right thing. "Okay," She breathed, giving a small nod. "Just...I love you."

"Well, I love you too," Johnny agreed, giving a small chuckle. "But now I just think you're stalling here."

Mavis couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, I guess I am a little." She knew she couldn't hold it off any longer, so she moved in closer and leant in, her breath against his neck. He gave a small laugh again, probably because it tickled, but remained still - moving would have made it very difficult for her to be exact in her biting. "Are you nervous?"

Johnny opened his mouth before closing again, changing his mind on the spot. "Err...a little bit," He admitted softly.

"I'll try not to hurt you," Mavis said, grabbing his hands in hers - if they were going to do this, it was going to be together. "I'll try and make it nicer for you...And I'll stay here until it's all finished."

"Thanks," He smiled at her thankfully. "Can you do it now?"

She resisted rolling her eyes at his eagerness and nodded before leaning in even closer, soft lips brushing against the soft skin of his neck in a somewhat intimate way that sent shivers up Johnny's spine. And then he felt it - the unmistakable feel of two sharp fangs entering his neck.

He couldn't help but let out a small gasp, gripping Mavis' hands in his tightly. "I-I'm fine," He managed, knowing that she'd stop before they'd finished if she thought he was in too much pain.

It wasn't that painful at first - sure, it was kind of uncomfortable, but it wasn't as if he was going to die from the pain anytime soon. He let his body relax, hoping that maybe it would help the transformation go by quicker or something.

Mavis pulled away after a minute or so, and he could feel her lips brushing across his skin until she got to his own lips; she gave him a small, soft kiss. He knew he should have been nervous about kissing her, considering her teeth had just been in his neck, but there was something intimate about it - about her changing him so that they could spend the rest of their lives together - so he kissed her back gently. And besides, she hadn't actually been sucking his blood out or anything...well, he wasn't sure what she'd done exactly. When they pulled away, she rested her head on his, their noses nuzzling together.

Now all they had to do was wait.

Seconds later, he felt it - his teeth started to ache for some reason, but he brushed it off. A tooth ache wasn't all that important, to be honest, especially if he was gaining fangs. But then his head started to feel quite heavy, as if it were made of lead or something, and he suddenly felt exhausted. The dark-haired vampire pulled away and looked at him, waiting for something to happen.

And then the pain kicked it - and he found that his fiancée hadn't been kidding when she'd said it was long and painful.

He couldn't help it - he let out a yell of pain, squeezing his eyes shut as he shot forwards and into Mavis' arms. Whatever he'd been expecting, it wasn't this. "Johnny?!" His eyes snapped open again, and he tried to focus on Mavis; her eyes, her face, the feel of her hands holding his tightly. She looked rather worried, and he wondered if what he was experiencing was meant to happen.

"I'm fine," He mumbled, squeezing her hand back as hard as he could to assure her - however, his strength had left him by this point, so it wasn't all that strong. "I just...I feel..." He trailed off, the pain getting the better of him as he let out a long scream.

It was like a thousand boiling knives stabbing him from both the inside and the outside; his neck was burning from the bite, eyes watering from the extreme pain that he was feeling. He laid back on the bed, body shaking from the agonizing sensations running through him, and tried to focus on Mavis as much as he could.

Mavis just looked more concerned by this, and he felt dread fill his stomach. "Stay with me," She pleaded desperately. "Please, Johnny!"

He wanted to, he really did, but it was just _too_ painful...it was taking all of his energy... _Am I dying? I can't die, I'm meant to be getting married in a few months!_ If he _was_ dying, then he needed to stay awake, just for a little longer, so he could say some form of Goodbye to his zing. "M...Mavy...I..."

"Don't die," She begged, letting go of his hands and wrapping her arms around him. "Please! I...I did this right! I know I did!"

"You...did your best," He muttered, tiredly reaching a hand and placing it on her back to pull her closer. "I...trying to stay."

Mavis looked down at him in horror, shaking her head as a few tears rolled down her cheeks. "No...No! You're not going to die! Let me get my Dad, he'll know what to do...DAD!"

He briefly registered the door to the bedroom flying open, but his vision started to blur before he could look at Dracula - all he could see was a blurred version of his fiancée, crying as she gripped his body in her arms. "Love...you," He choked out.

It all went black.

* * *

"No...NO! JOHNNY!"

She felt two hands on her shoulders - her Dad's. "Mavis..."

"YOU CAN'T DIE!" She sobbed, giving into her emotions as she clutched Johnny's body. Flashes of memories ran through her head, making it even worse for her.

_A zing...love at first sight...those eyes looking at her. His arms around her as she experienced her first ever sunrise. _Kissing at her birthday party, kissing after being reunited...many kisses afterwards, each of them as special as the last.__

"You can't...PLEASE! Stay with me!"

_Traveling together, seeing all the different beautiful views that the world had to offer was an obvious fond memory. That first time, in a hotel room in Hawee-wee, where they experienced something of a different kind of magic. The proposal on a rooftop in Italy, followed by the announcement of who she really was to his family._

All of these memories flashed through her mind again and again, so much so that she nearly didn't hear her Dad speak.

"Mavis," Dracula tried urgently, not waiting for her to look at him before continuing. "Tell me what happened...where did you bite him?"

She didn't need to say - he could see the tiny holes in the red-head's neck. "I thought I did it right!" Mavis cried, and it pained the Count to see his daughter so distressed. "I...I checked it w-w-wasn't the point y-y-you mentioned...and I was so careful!"

Despite it all, Dracula gave a small smile to himself knowingly. "I don't think he's dead, Mavy."

She spun around to face him, tear tracks frozen in place. "Wait...what do you mean? He's...he's alive?"

"Yes," He answered, smiling even more and putting an arm around her as he sat down on the bed. He carefully examined the red-head from over his daughter's shoulder before nodding in confirmation. "His body is just resting while the change takes place - it's no big deal, Mavy."

Mavis stared at Dracula, not sure whether to believe it. "So...so I _didn't_ kill him?"

"No," The Count told her assuringly. "His body is just...it's shut down, shall we say, while he changes. You did a good job, Sweet Fangs."

She couldn't help it - she let out a sigh of relief. "Oh...thank g-goodness..." She looked down at her fiancée in her arms, who was looking very peaceful and serene as he slept through it. "So...how long until he wakes up?"

"Ehh...that I don't know," Dracula admitted. "It could be a few minutes or a few hours...maybe until tomorrow night. All we can do is wait."

Mavis looked between her father and her fiancée, hesitating before speaking. "Dad? Could I maybe...you know..."

"Oh, of course!" The Count agreed, standing up quickly and making to leave the room once again. "We need blood beaters anyway, so I will go to get them while you two...have a moment alone."

It was only five minutes later that Mavis learnt her father had been completely right; she was murmuring under her breath to her fiancée sweet nothings, willing him to wake up and show that was okay, when she felt something...his hand twitching in her own. It was slight but a sign - the change _was_ working.

Just as the bedroom door opened again and Dracula came in carrying some blood beaters, Johnny started to stir; his head turned on the pillow, eyes squeezing shut even more as the last of the change occurred. Mavis clenched her fiancée's hands tighter, wanting to make sure she was one of the first things he saw; a familiar face would probably be nice to wake up to.

"Johnny?" She whispered, somewhat unsurely. "Can you hear me?"

He made a small - but audible - snuffling noise, as if he were waking up from a long nap. Both of the vampires in the room intently watched as the red-head shifted on the bed, clearly trying to find the energy to wake up again; half a minute later, his eyes slowly opened, and he looked around the room groggily. "Oh, my head hurts..."

"You passed out," Mavis told him softly, and his eyes swivelled to look at her properly. "We thought that...that we'd lost you."

Johnny gave her a weak grin, gazing up at her lovingly. "Yeah, well, you're gonna have to try harder than that to get rid of me." He paused, suddenly remembering the reason why he was passed out in the first place. "Did it work?"

"Let me see," Dracula interrupted before Mavis could answer. "Johnny, could you just open your mouth?"

Johnny did so; instead of a row of teeth that were all the same length and size, he now had a pair of newly grown fangs; his skin was also just a little bit paler, although that wouldn't have been visible to the human eye, and it was clear that the change had been successful.

"Yes," Dracula answered, nodding his head. Johnny shut his mouth and looked up with wide eyes. "It worked."

"Sweet!" Johnny exclaimed, trying to sit up; not all of his strength had come back to him yet, however, and he fell back onto the bed with a small groan. "Ow! I'm okay though!"

Mavis giggled, feeling as though a huge weight had been lifted - he was okay. Her fiancée was still there, and everything was going to be fine. "You gave us a scare," She admitted, leaning forwards to give him a hug. "I thought that I'd...I'd _killed_ you."

"Like I said," The red-head mumbled back, managing to find a small amount of strength so that he could wrap his arms around her as well. "Takes a lot more than that to get rid of me. And besides, we've got to get married. You think I'd miss out on that?"


	23. W - Weddings

The first thing the couple saw when they stepped into the large hall was that the party had already begun; people were dancing around with each other, drinks in their hands, and it was obvious immediately what a joyous occasion this was.

"Wow," Mavis whispered in awe, clutching Johnny's hand as they looked around. "This is the first wedding I've been to, and it's just...wow!"

"Yeah, well, this is like my tenth," Johnny dismissed, although he too was grinning. "With the amount of relatives I have, you get around a lot."

As they walked further into the hall, more people started to recognise them - Jean came hurrying over, face bright and alive. "I'm so glad you guys are here!" She exclaimed, face flushed from dancing. "I'm sure Matt and Rachel will be honoured you two came tonight!"

Mavis couldn't help but smile back, a little guiltily; thanks to the fact that she couldn't go out in the sunlight, the two had had to miss out on the actual wedding - however, they still agreed to make it to the party to celebrate. "We wouldn't have missed it for anything!" She stated, as if it were obvious. "So, where are they? I want to give my congratulations."

"Oh, just talking to a few of the other guests," Johnny's mother waved in the general direction before looking back at them. "Do you two want anything to drink? The bar is open and it's free all night."

Johnny nodded. "Yeah, I'm kinda thirsty. I didn't have time to have a drink tonight after I woke up because _someone_ thought we were going to be late."

Mavis rolled her eyes slightly. "You woke up with ten minutes to get ready!"

Jean laughed at their bantering, amused. "I have to say, Johnny, you are a rather heavy sleeper." She paused, looking at Mavis sceptically as she remembered something. "Do you...you know...drink? As in _our_ drinks?"

"I can manage," Mavis said, nodding her head. "Although, I don't like the wine too much - it's _really_ bitter."

"How about I get you a soda?" Johnny decided, and she nodded. "Cool. I'll be back in a sec."

It was more than easy to fit in with the other guests; Johnny and Mavis soon found themselves mixing with all of the other guests, most of whom were related to the red-head in some way, and Mavis soon discovered she was meeting most of her fiancée's family.

"Engaged?" A man around the twins' age asked, looking surprised. The vampire wondered if he was Johnny's cousin, considering the red hair and freckles. "Man, never thought out of all of them it'd be him..."

"You're so good-looking!" Another probable cousin agreed, also looking stunned. This one was about five years older, and also sported tufty red hair. "What does a good-looking girl such as yourself see in him?"

The vampire giggled nervously, remembering not to show her fangs off too much, while her fiancée just went bright red. "Hey!"

"What? We never said you were ugly," The first guy said, shrugging.

"No, we just meant that you were...you know, a little too laid-back...and, let's face it, you're not the most intelligent guy," The second cousin joked, giving him a boyish punch on the shoulder. "Still, good job, dude!" He turned to Mavis, took her hand, and kissed it in a mock-gentleman type way. "It was lovely to meet you!"

"It was great to meet you guys too," Mavis giggled, quite bemused by the way they were acting.

Before they could continue speaking, a loud voice boomed from across the room; someone was standing on a stage and holding a microphone to his mouth, so that everyone could hear him. "Good evening everyone!" He yelled, and some people cheered. "I think it's time for the bride and groom's first dance, so if everyone could clear the floor for them!"

"Oh, this is gonna be good," The first cousin said mischievously. "Matt can't dance to save his life!"

"It will be fun to see how a stiff lawyer guy like him copes with it," The second chuckled, and the group pushed through the crowd to see what was going on.

Mavis instantly recognised Matt and Rachel, and beamed when she saw they were in traditional wedding attire. "Oh," She murmured to Johnny softly, and he looked at her. "Rachel looks so beautiful and happy..."

"Yeah," Johnny agreed, nodding as he wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her closer. "She looks pretty good. But look at Matt - he looks so uncomfortable in that suit!"

Being honest, he kind of did - it was obvious that Johnny's brothers weren't any better at dancing than he himself was. The music started up, and the two started to dance; at first, it was somewhat awkward since neither of them were quite sure what to do at first. But as the song went on, it was clear that they were getting more comfortable and into it - they were gazing up at each other with eyes filled with love, and it was obvious to everyone around them that they were in a world of their own.

"They look so happy together," The vampire sighed, leaning against her fiancée and putting her head on his shoulder.

He smiled down at her. "Yeah. That's gonna be us in four months, you know."

Mavis couldn't help but smile as well. "You can't wait, can you?"

"Nope," Johnny agreed, eyes watching as his brother spun Rachel around on the dance floor. "It's gonna be great; I'm just glad your dad said we could get married in the hotel...and all of our friends are gonna be there too, right?"

"They all said they'd come," Mavis said, nodding her head. "Although, just know that my Uncle Frank and Uncle Griffin may start crying."

"Come on," Johnny decided, grabbing her hand clumsily and pulling her towards the dance floor. "Let's dance."

"I thought you said you didn't know how to?" The vampire questioned, raising an eyebrow.

The red-head just shrugged. "Yeah, I can't, but it's a wedding! It's just fun you know - and besides, we need to practice for our own."

Deciding this was a good enough excuse as any, Mavis allowed her fiancée to lead her out onto the dance floor and pull her into his arms.

* * *

Wedding planning is a difficult and time-consuming task, unless you have a wedding planner - however, the end result is by far greater and more rewarding than the effort and work put in while planning.

And to two certain vampires, this was certainly the case.

"So, we have the music sorted out," Mavis counted aloud, trailing her finger down the list she'd written down. "The catering staff are more than happy to supply food for both monsters and humans, the guests have all received an invitation this evening, your family are coming tomorrow night and...and our outfits are just about done." She looked up at her soon-to-be husband. "Have I missed anything?"

Johnny just stared at her with wide eyes. "Uhh...I don't think so..."

"Oh, right, the flower arrangements!" She looked at her list and frowned. "How could I forget? Oh well, it's not that big a deal - there's an abandoned orchard garden outside, so hopefully some flowers have been growing recently."

"Do we really need all of that?" Johnny asked, kind of confused. "I mean, yeah, it's all great, but it's just...it seems like a lot."

"It's our wedding," She stated, shrugging. "It has to be as special as possible."

"But do we need all of this stuff for it to be special?" The red-head asked. "I mean, just getting married is special enough. Like, we could be getting married in...I dunno...bathing suits or in Vegas and it'd still be enough for me."

"Really?" Mavis asked, touched by this. He nodded. "That's so...sweet, Johnny. But I've already planned everything out, so..."

He couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, no! I didn't mean I wanted to get married in Vegas or in bathing suits! I was just using it as an example, to show that I don't care too much."

Dracula had also been offering up suggestions for the wedding, clearly remembering from his own experiences the kinds of things they needed to arrange. He'd also offered to help and pay for as much as they needed - however, this ended up clashing quite a bit with Johnny's parents, who also wanted to help and pay as much as possible. Eventually a deal had been made; the costs would be split half and half between the three of them.

The Count had offered something else besides money - something that was a lot more valuable to him.

"Dad," Mavis had breathed in awe when she had opened the box he'd given to her. She held up the dress inside, scanning it with wide blue eyes. "I...I can't take this. I can find another one, honestly-"

"Your mother would want you to have it," Dracula said gently, giving her a small smile. "Now, I know it's a bit...used in some areas, but I will ask one of the witches to sew it back up before the wedding, so it's perfectly fine again."

His daughter just gazed at the white material, thinking on some things. "It's a beautiful dress," She murmured softly, stroking the material with one of her hands. "Did she look beautiful in it?"

"Of course," Dracula stated, voice also gentle as he remembered his love. "She was always beautiful, Mavy - that's where you get it from." He put an arm around her, giving her a smile. "She looked like an angel on our wedding day - and now, it's your turn."

She had hugged him, a tear rolling down her cheek at the generosity of such a gift; she just hoped that her mother, wherever she was, would see her getting married, and see her wearing the dress as well - that her mother would be proud and happy for her.

The night of the wedding was, thankfully, a clear one; as far as the eye could see there were bright stars mapped out on a dark backdrop, the moon shining in the air and casting a beautiful glow on the castle. It was calm and perfect, just like it should have been.

The same could not be said for the couple before the ceremony.

"Oh my God, I'm freaking out!" Johnny exclaimed, trying to run a comb through his hair but failing miserably. He looked at Matt and Jake from across the room, eyes wide. "What do I do? Like, what if she doesn't show up? Oh my God, I should have taken longer in the shower, I know it-"

"Shut up," Matt interrupted calmly, looking quite unfazed. "Johnny, every guy is like this on their wedding day - well, wedding _night_ for you two." He looked his younger brother straight in the eyes seriously. "You love her, yes?"

Johnny nodded.

"And you want to spend the rest of your life - however long it is now - with her?"

The vampire grinned in a lovesick way. "Totally."

"Then stop freaking out," Matt advised.

Jake nodded in agreement. "She's probably just as nervous as you are, bro."

This was, in short, an accurate statement.

"This is so awkward!" Mavis ranted to her Aunts and Rachel, all of whom were watching from across her bedroom. "I can't even see how I look - how do I know I won't look like...like an idiot?!"

"Because you've got us here to help," Eunice stated loudly, raising a stitched brow. "Honey, do you think we'd let you look stupid?"

"And we're sure Johnny won't care what you look like," Rachel added helpfully. "I mean, you guys are...uhh...zings, as you put it. You're meant to be...at least, I think that's what it means."

Wanda picked up a hairbrush and moved across the room to help her. "We'll start with your hair and make-up," She decided. "And then you can show us that dress of yours."

Eunice stood up and walked across the room in her heels to help. "It better be a nice dress," She said expectantly, and Mavis smiled to herself; she could tell that her Aunts would recognise it immediately...she just hoped it looked okay on her.

Over on the other side of the hotel, the guys weren't having much luck in making Johnny's hair look neat and tidy.

"The one day it needs to be tidy," Johnny grumbled, letting out a wince as his brother pulled at his hair. "Ow - and it won't do it!"

"Wow, dude," Jake sighed, staring at his brother's hair in defeat. "It's impossible."

"Not that it matters too much," Matt added as their brother let out a groan. "I mean, you don't show up in photos anymore, right? It'll be fine."

Johnny let out a sigh, trying to think of something. "The only other thing is if I do my Franken-Homie hair...but I'm so not doing that!" He shuddered on the spot. "I don't know what it was - electricity or hairspray - but it was awful!"

"Well, since your hair is a lost cause," Matt decided, moving across the room to the wardrobe. "We might as well get ourselves changed...let's see...this is mine, and this is yours, Jake...Uh-ha! Here we go!" He pulled a suit out of the wardrobe and held it up in triumph. "This is for you, little brother!"

Johnny took it from him and stared at it. "Uhh...thanks?"

"Go and change," Jake ordered hurriedly, turning the older man around and shoving him towards the bathroom. "We need to make sure you look good up there - God help Mavis if the first thing she sees is your tux all scruffy and untidy."

"She's seen me in a lot worse outfits, you know."

"Yeah, whatever," Matt dismissed choppily, checking his watch. "We don't need to hear about your birthday suit - get a move on!"

About five minutes later, after a lot of unnecessary struggling when it came to buttons and zippers, Johnny was dressed in the tuxedo and back in the bedroom with his brothers.

Jake let out a low whistle. "Wow, bro. You clean up good."

"You do look rather dashing," Matt agreed jokingly before tugging at his little brother's collar. "There we go...Yeah, you look pretty good. Be careful none of the ladies set their eyes on you, 'cause Mavis won't like that."

Johnny rolled his eyes good-naturedly and grinned just as there was a knock on the door. Jake wiggled his eyebrows suggestively as Matt crossed the room to open the door. "She's rather early for the wedding night - or should I say, wedding _morning_..."

Johnny laughed loudly - however, he immediately stopped when none other than Count Dracula came into the room. "Oh, hi Drac!" He greeted nervously. "So...er...how's it going?"

"I'm good," Dracula said, smiling at Johnny and his brothers. "I just came to see how the preparations were going."

"Well...I'm dressed," Johnny stated pointlessly, gesturing to himself. "So...uhh...how's Mavis doing?"

"I haven't been to see her yet," Dracula answered, sweeping past him to look out of the window. "But I'm sure she's doing fine." He turned back to face the red-haired vampire seriously. "So, are you ready for this, Johnny?"

Johnny couldn't help but smile - this was a question he knew the answer to. "Completely, Drac."

"Is that why you were pacing and worrying about it half an hour ago?" Matt snorted, and his younger brother shot him a look to shut up. "What? It's the truth!"

"Well, I have to check on Mavis, you know, to make sure she's...as ready." The Count announced, a small smirk on his face from the exchange he'd just seen, and he headed back to the door. He stopped at the last second, however, and hesitated before turning back around to face his future son-in-law. "Actually, I have something to give you, Jonathan."

"What?" Jake asked before his brother could, intrigued. "I mean, you're already giving him your daughter. Isn't that enough?"

"I think we should go change," Matt decided quickly, yanking his brother out of the room. "Uhh...we'll be back in a minute, Johnny!"

Dracula held in a laugh as he watched them. "Are they always like that?"

"Yeah," Johnny nodded. "So...what is it you wanted to give me?"

The Count reached into the pocket of his jacket and produced a badge. "It's not a lot," He admitted. "But I thought it would, you know...add some character to the suit."

"Cool," The red-haired vampire grinned, taking the badge and looking at it; it was a small badge of the hotel's logo, which included the letters 'H' and 'T' made up of two vertical lines and a bat. "Wow, dude...thanks!"

As he pinned it to the lapel of his jacket, his future father-in-law straightened up to leave properly. "Good, I'm glad you like it. Now, don't take too long - we don't have all night!"

Meanwhile, Mavis had just entered her bedroom again, this time wearing her wedding dress - she didn't need a mirror to see how she looked, since the other women in the room gave very audible reactions when they saw her.

"Oh, that's your mother's dress!" Eunice exclaimed, eyes wide.

"You look so beautiful in it, honey," Wanda said, wiping a tear from her eyes. "Just like your Mom did."

"Thank God you got most of your looks from her," Eunice continued loudly. "I mean, can you imagine if you'd gotten your Dad's nose?!"

Even Rachel, who'd never seen Mavis' mother in her life, agreed that she looked amazing. "I love your dress," She murmured, looking quite awestruck. "It's so...vintage but pretty at the same time."

Mavis giggled, spinning around on the spot so that they could admire it from all angles; her Aunts and Rachel just made more noises of appreciation, Wanda looking quite emotional.

"Everyone's going to have to hold Johnny back when he sees you," Wanda sniffled, wiping the tears away with her paws.

Eunice nodded in agreement. "I remember when Frank and I got married," She said loudly, shaking her head. "It was back when he used to be romantic...not that he ran down the aisle to me."

"Well, it's just as well," Wanda commented gently. "I don't think they _would_ have been able to hold him back...and besides, you were on the run. It's perfectly understandable..."

As the two continued to discuss their own weddings, Rachel put a hand on the skirt of the dress and stroked it carefully. "It's so soft," She said lightly, looking up at the vampire and smiling widely. "You make such a gorgeous bride, you know. Your Aunt...uhh..." She paused, clearly not remembering the wolf's name on the spot. "Your Aunt was right - Johnny's brothers will have to hold him back!"

If Mavis could have flushed, she was sure she would have. "Thanks," She said quietly, somewhat honoured to get a compliment from her.

Rachel just gave a small sigh - but there was a small smile on her face. "I'm really jealous of how great you look," She admitted, looking down at the floor. "I mean, I nearly couldn't fit into my dress for the occasion..."

"Why not?" Mavis asked curiously.

She didn't need to be told; moments later, the brunette had placed two hands on her stomach, and it was only then noticeable that there was a slight curve to it.

"Holy Rabies!" The vampire exclaimed, eyes wide. "Why didn't you tell me? Have you told anyone? How long have you been...? I mean, does Matt know?"

Rachel flushed red. "We wanted to keep it a secret until after the wedding - we didn't want to take all the attention off of you two."

Before the conversation could continue, the bedroom door opened and Dracula walked inside, grinning around at all of the women. "So? Are we nearly ready?" His eyes stopped on his daughter, and his eyes widened in surprise. "Mavy..."

"I get it, Dad," Mavis laughed, moving forwards to hug him. "I look beautiful and all that - Auntie Wanda and Auntie Eunice told me already."

Dracula just shook his head, stroking back one of his daughter's bangs. "You look like your mother," He said, smiling at her in a rather emotional way. "She would have been proud of you."

"I've been told that too."

"Well, you should be told that all the time." They pulled away, and he took her hands in his. "Wanda, Eunice and...ehh..."

"Rachel," Rachel prompted kindly, not really offended.

"Yes. Could you three maybe give me a moment alone with my daughter?"

All three of them nodded and left the room, clearly understanding that the Count needed a little bit of time alone. Once they were gone with the door shut behind them, he turned back to Mavis and sighed. "You've grown up too fast," He murmured sadly, looking her up and down. "It seems like only yesterday you were thirty five and crawling down laundry chutes."

"Don't cry, Dad," Mavis half-laughed - although she was sniffling a little bit too. "I'm still here."

"I know. You'll always be my little blood orange," He told her, giving her a warm smile. "Even when you become a grey little bat with wrinkly wings, you'll still be my little Mavy."

"'Daddy's Girl'," Mavis quoted, remembering the song he used to sing for her. "I know."

The Count chuckled at the memory. "Yes, exactly. Now no more of this sad stuff! You're ready for this? For definite?" His daughter just nodded, giving him a large smile. "Then I'm pleased to give you away today." He kissed her cheek softly and pulled away, trying to remember not to get too emotional. "Johnny's nearly ready - and then we'll get started."

It was only half an hour later that both of them were ready and the guests were seated - and then that was it. The big moment. Months of planning and hard work was put on for show, for all of their friends and family to see, and it was with a nervous and giddy excitement that the couple felt as the wedding started.

Johnny had been standing in place, nervously tugging at the collar of his shirt and feeling kind of suffocated - he really wasn't used to wearing stiff, uptight suits but it was a tradition, so he kind of had no choice. Every now and then he'd eye the little badge on his jacket and smile at the shine off of it.

"Good luck, baby bro," Matt whispered lowly in his ear. "Oh, look! Everyone came!"

Johnny turned to look at the guests and noticed that his older brother had been right; next to his parents were _all_ of his brothers, even the ones who hadn't been necessarily pleased with the arrangement at first. He felt his heart lift in his chest when he was this, and grinned back at everyone happily; half a dozen smiles were beamed back at him, and he felt pleased that all of his family were there to see this night.

"Oh, we're about to start!" Matt realized as a knight gave them the signal. "Okay...just relax and smile! You're getting married, not being sentenced to death!"

The vampire would have glared at his brother if it hadn't been for his wife-to-be walking in at that very moment - and the world stopped. Well, at least his did.

Judging by the gasps of awe coming from the guests in the audience, they were equally as stunned as he was; it was no wonder, because Mavis was _stunning_ in that moment. Maybe it was just the perfect way the dress happened to fit her, or the way she was smiling at everyone but one thing was for certain - he was a very lucky man to be marrying her. She looked simply radiant as Dracula walked her down the aisle, eyes shining with both happiness and unshed tears that were trained on Johnny. The two gave each other watery smiles, and that was all they needed - the nerves were gone.

The rest of the ceremony was short and sweet, to say the least; it was kind of a piece of cake after Mavis had been walked up to the altar, and the two found themselves just gazing at each other adoringly throughout the entire thing - they couldn't keep their eyes off each other.

"You look beautiful," He mouthed at her, grinning widely.

She smiled, batting her eyelashes at him. "Thanks."

After exchanging vows (ones that they'd written - or mostly improvised, in Johnny's case) and slipping gold rings onto each other's fingers, they shared the infamous 'You may kiss the bride' kiss; having not seen each other since the previous night, thanks to traditional wedding rules, it was somewhat of a relief to be able to express all the love that they were feeling in that moment, especially in front of all their friends.

"She's so grown-up!" They heard Frank cry from near the front as they pulled away, and there was some sizzling static noises.

Eunice's voice piped up then, sounding quite annoyed. "FRANK! You're short-circuiting and getting sparks all over me!"

Frank sniffled but stopped crying; instead, he put an arm around his wife. "Sorry...you don't need any more sparks, anyway, 'cause you've got an electric personality."

Eunice rolled her eyes, but the smile on her face made it obvious that she couldn't stay mad at her husband for long. "Oh, you're too sweet!"

Johnny and Mavis looked at each other and couldn't help it; they started to laugh - maybe it was just because they found the bantering funny, or maybe because they knew that one day it might be them doing that kind of thing, but either way they found themselves laughing.

"Come on," Johnny told her, still chuckling. He held out his hand for her to take. "We have a party to get to."

Mavis slipped her hand in his and smiled as he lead her towards the crowd of monster guests waiting to congratulate them.


	24. X - Xenos

Since the hotel's opening in 1895, it had become quite the hot spot for monsters - not just in Europe, but all around the _world_.

It had probably started because of Count Dracula's very own friends - they had been the very first to try out the hotel, thanks to their relationship with the owner, and when they left had raved about it to their other monster friends. Murray, in particular, had managed to convince quite a few female mummies to check it out from Egypt.

While all of these new monsters and guests were of course quite interesting, a certain little vampire found herself shy when they started coming to stay.

The first time they had a full hotel was on a weekend; because Mavis couldn't bear to part with her father in such a new environment, the two vampire had been attached at the hip - literally, since Dracula had taken to carrying his daughter around with her legs around his waist.

"It's good to see you, Steve!" Dracula called brightly, eyes bright; opening this hotel had put him in such a good mood recently that not even experiencing a few problems could bring his mood down. "Ah, Mister Bigfoot! So glad you could make it!"

"Hey, Drac!" A yeti called from across the lobby, and the tall vampire went to greet him. "It's great to be here! All of my friends have been telling me about this place, and we couldn't wait to see if it was a great as everyone said it would be!"

"Well, it's the best I could do," Dracula said humbly, although there was definite pride in his voice.

The yeti suddenly saw Mavis and gave her a large smile. "Say, who's this cutie?"

Mavis' eyes widened, and she hid her face in her father's cape. The Count chuckled, putting a hand on her back in comfort. "This is my daughter, Mavis. Mavy, say hello to Mister Yeti."

She shook her head, giving a small whimper.

Luckily, Mister Yeti just laughed in amusement. "Shy, is she? Yeah, all kids are like that...still, it's nice to see you, Mister Dracula!"

It wasn't just the big monsters that had her scared either - a lot of the other monsters were strange and scary to her, including (but not limited to) the skeletons, gremlins, the flies (in all fairness, they had very big eyes) and the big tarantula that had somehow managed to crawl its way through the revolving doors also terrified her.

"They're all nice, Mavy," Dracula told her assuringly a few nights later. "There's no need to be frightened of them."

"Why they all here?" Mavis asked, not looking at him.

"Well," Dracula sat next to her on her coffin-bed and pulled her into a hug. "You know I told you about the awful and nasty humans? About how they want to hurt us? Well, it's because of that - they're staying until it's safe to go back to their own homes, you see?"

His daughter wasn't really but she gave a tiny nod.

"They're all monsters, just like you and me," The Count continued, smiling to himself when she just looked up at him with wide blue eyes. "You like your Uncle and Aunts, yes? They're different to us."

"Yeah, but I know them," Mavis pointed out, still looking rather frightened. "I don't know these ones - how do I know they're not bad ones, Daddy?"

"Because I won't let any bad ones in, sweet fangs," He promised, lifting her under the covers and tucking her in. "You shall get used to them, Mavy - you will. You may even make some friends. Just give it time."

She didn't really want to give it time - she wanted to go back to how it used to be, with just her and her father all the time, and the occasional visit from an Aunt or Uncle. Sure, she got a new and larger room, and she got to decorate it more, but it was just so...strange.

On the bright side, her Aunts and Uncles visited for quite a while when the hotel opened; she found herself having quite a few hours of fun one night by the pool (one addition to their lives that she didn't mind too much) just trying to find her Uncle Griffin in the water. It later turned out that he hadn't even been in the pool, and that he'd merely been sitting on the side and watching in a rather bemused way.

"Hey! That's cheating!" Mavis complained, frowning as Wanda tried to towel-dry her off. "I win because you didn't do it properly!"

"Well, at least you kept your swimsuit on," Wayne commented, eying Griffin (or his glasses, at least) from his seat. "Say, Griffin, why weren't you wearing any bathing suit or anything?"

"You mean you played in the pool while you were naked?" Eunice asked, shocked by the news.

Griffin let out a nervous laugh. "Of course not! I mean, you would have known!"

"So," Frank started, passing his niece a glass of monster soda and grinning at her. "Have you met any of the other guests yet, Mavis?"

"Hmm," Mavis hummed as she stirred the drink with her straw, not wanting to answer just yet.

"Oh dear," Wanda sighed, wrapping the shoulders around the vampire's shoulders to keep her from getting cold. "They must be rather scary, huh?"

Mavis nodded, looking up at her hopefully - finally, someone who seemed to understand! "Yes! Exactly!"

"Some of them can be quite scary, just looking at them," Wanda agreed, pulling Mavis into a warm and motherly hug. "But that's just because they're new, sweetheart."

"And they're bigger," Mavis added.

Frank laughed slightly. "Well, I'm big - am I scary?"

"No," The vampire said quickly, shaking her head. "But I know you, Uncle Frank - you're nice!"

"But you don't know these guys," Griffin pointed out, appearing next to them from nowhere. "They're all probably nice too, and just as irresistible as the rest of us!"

He had a good point - but Mavis Dracula was stubborn. She took after her father in the aspect that she didn't like admitting that she was wrong, and this was one of those times where this quality was apparent. "Yeah, but...they just...they..."

"I think someone's tired," Frank said affectionately, and she found herself suddenly being lifted into her Uncle's arms. "It's nearly morning anyway, so we've got to get you to bed!"

As many people know, it can take a long time to get used to strangers - and of course she eventually started to feel less nervous about all of the different guests. In fact, as she got older over the years she found herself becoming slowly more and more eager to meet new guests, especially the ones from new places.

"So, what's it like in Australia?" Mavis asked a half-shark-half-human hybrid monster one day, about two years after the hotel first opened, and staring at him in awe. "Is it nice? Is it true that when it's night here then it's day over there?"

The guest shrugged. "I guess it's okay. It's easy to be awake during the day too - I can live in the water or on ground, so it's useful for when the humans chase me off land. And - yeah. It's only like that over there, 'cause of the rotation with the Sun."

"Have you been anywhere else?" The vampire asked curiously, leaning her head on her hands as she listened. "I mean, you can swim loads of places, so it must be a little easy to go places."

The newcomer just sighed. "You'd think so, but no. The only other place I've been is New Zealand, and that's only 'cause it's near to Australia anyway."

 _I wish I could go to these places,_ Mavis thought to herself. _AND meet all of these people. Maybe some day I will._

_Well. If my Daddy lets me._

* * *

Usually, when visiting a new country, the locals who live in that particular place are quite nice and hospitable, sometimes even going as far as to help you with whatever you want even though you're a stranger to them.

However, there are the odd ones out there - and it was both a hilarious and weird ordeal for a certain couple.

Johnny and Mavis had been trying to make their way around the streets of Dublin one November evening, planning on finding something fun to do - Mavis couldn't really drink in a pub or bar yet, considering she was the equivalent of an eighteen year old (and had no real ID), so they had to try and find something else to do.

Unfortunately, Johnny's map-reading skills were average at best; it didn't help at all that it was night time and therefore dark, and the two found themselves wondering around aimlessly until they found themselves quite lost.

"Oops," Johnny muttered quietly, immediately sending his girlfriend an apologetic look. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Mavis sighed, looking around and trying to find a sign somewhere. "At least now we know which way not to go next time."

"And to not let me read the map."

"Yes. That too."

The human shrugged to himself and stuffed the piece of paper in his hands into his jacket pocket. "So...now what do we do?"

"We could ask around, couldn't we?" Mavis suggested, looking down the street for anyone to show up. "I mean, I'm sure all the humans here are nice...well, as long as they don't know about me being a vampire, that is."

Johnny nodded, deciding that it was better than nothing, and the two set off further down the street to try and find a local. "There's got to be someone somewhere," He muttered, squinting in the dark - why did he pick that day of all days to not wear glasses or contacts? "This isn't the first time I've gotten lost somewhere, you know. I mean, one time I was in Spain, and I was on the beach when this hot chi- I mean, this girl came up to me and was, like, asking me how to get to this shop. I tried showing her, but we just got lost."

"And then?" Mavis asked, not sure whether to be amused by the fact he'd gotten lost or somewhat jealous that he'd nearly called someone else a 'hot chick'.

"Not much...she yelled at me in Spanish and walked away. In the end, I just hitched a ride back to the hotel - it was a fun day, though." He squinted even more, trying to make out the shapes in front of him. "Hey, Mavy, can you see where-"

He was cut off when he ended up walking straight into a tall man; the red-head quickly took a few steps backwards, eyes wide.

"Oh, uhh...sorry, dude...I can't see that well..."

The man frowned at them. "Cad é?"

"We were wondering if you could help us," Mavis requested, smiling up at the man nervously. "We're not from around here!"

"We're tourists," Johnny repeated, gesturing with his hands in a way that didn't have a lot to do with the actual conversation. "Do you speak English?"

The man frowned at them, eying them up. "Cad é an ifreann? An bhfuil tú ar leathcheann?" He snarled, speaking in Irish again - whatever he was saying, it didn't sound all that pleasant.

Mavis moved closer to Johnny. "Do you know what he's saying?" He shook his head. "Well, it's just that you said your Dad's family came from around here."

"Yeah, but I don't speak the language!"

Mavis put a hand on his shoulder anxiously. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea..."

"Well, we can't be lost when the Sun comes up," He reminded her, and she sighed in agreement. "Maybe he can just...I dunno...Look, dude," He addressed the man again. "Sorry that I walked into you, but we're lost and we need to get back to the main road. Do you know where to go or not?"

The man clearly didn't like being called 'dude', and growled at them.

"Johnny," Mavis whispered nervously. "I think he's angry - we should just go..."

"Well, thanks for the help, dude," Johnny said, allowing his girlfriend to lead him away.

The man suddenly started to shout loudly. "Tú turasóireachta dúr!"

"What does that mean?" The red-head asked the vampire, absolutely terrified.

"I don't know," Mavis reminded him. "But I think we need to run!"

Before the man could do anything else, the two had started to run back the way they'd come from, Mavis dragging Johnny since he couldn't see as well, and tried to put as much distance between them and the man as possible. After about five minutes, when they finally deemed it safe to stop again, the two stopped and leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.

"What was his problem?" Johnny asked, gulping down some air.

"Maybe he's having a bad night?" Mavis suggested, and the two looked up at each other. Unable to help it, they started to laugh. "He was pretty funny, though, just yelling like that."

"He looked like a gorilla," Johnny agreed, snorting slightly. "Like, he was so big...and when he started yelling and stuff...he looked like a total animal!" He managed to stop laughing so much and looked at his girlfriend curiously. "Hey, do you ever get monsters at the hotel like that? Or ones you can't understand?"

Mavis nodded. "Of course - well, not ones that _behave_ like that of course. I mean, my Dad has this friend called Marty, and he speaks...I don't actually know what language it is." She shrugged, clearly unsure. "I think it's gibberish, but it's probably just some kind of fish language."

Johnny looked at her in interest - he liked hearing about the different monsters at the hotel. "Cool. So, is he like some kind of fish dude or something?"

"Yes. He seems like a nice guy, even if I've never had an actual conversation with him." She straightened up, looking around the street and up at the sky. "I don't think we're going to see a lot more than the sky tonight. By the time we find out where we are, it'll be time to go back to the hotel."

Johnny sighed. "Yeah...that sucks. Still," He added brightly, also straightening up. "At least we know now where not to go - and to run if we ever see that guy again."


	25. Y - Young

Young babies, as many intelligent people know, do not do very much besides eating, pooping and sleeping; it's not their fault of course, and they do eventually become more interesting as they grow older and learn new things. Monster babies, however, took a lot longer to become interesting, thanks to the fact that monsters aged slowly in comparison to that of a human.

To one vampire, however, his baby couldn't have stayed little for too long.

The Sun had barely set that evening when Martha was woken by the cries of a baby; she didn't even need to look up to know what had woken her daughter up. "Vlad? You don't need to hold her all the time - picking her up just makes her more restless."

She heard her husband give a tired laugh as the crying stopped. "But Martha, look at her! She is so beautiful and tiny...I can't _not_ pick her up!"

Martha groggily raised herself from the bed and crossed the room to peer at their daughter in her husband's arms. "I know she's beautiful - she's _my_ daughter as well. And she won't be that tiny forever; she _will_ grow."

"Yes, but that is years away," The Count dismissed, beaming down at Mavis and showing off his fangs; his daughter looked back up at him and opened her mouth in the same way to mimic him - although, she was merely showing off two tiny white teeth that weren't quite fully-grown fangs just yet. "Oh! Look at that! She's so clever! Aren't you, Mavy Wavy?"

Martha couldn't help but smile, leaning over and resting her head on her husband's shoulder so that she could also gaze down at their infant daughter. "You know, you spoil her way too much, Mister," She teased.

"She probably already has her hypnotising powers already," Dracula boasted proudly.

"At three months old?" She questioned sceptically.

"Well, she _is_ a Dracula."

The vampiress just laughed, kissing the Count on the cheek. "I highly doubt that, honey - I think you're just a vampire in love with his daughter. Now, put her down so that she can nap for another few hours; we could both use the sleep."

Dracula pouted in a way that Martha found adorable. "But...but I have waited all day to spend time with her. Maybe just...an hour or so? You know...just to tire her out and let you sleep?"

Martha wanted to say no, she really did - but it was cute that he wanted to spend so much time with their daughter, and she couldn't resist. "Alright; _half an hour_ and then she gets to take another nap."

Before he could argue or agree, Mavis let out a curious noise and started to poke at Dracula's nose. He chuckled, miming stealing her nose. "I've got your nose, Mavy!"

She frowned up at him, clearly confused.

"Oh, alright!" He gave in, and pretended to replace it on her face. "There we go! As beautiful as ever!"

This clearly appeased Mavis, because she went straight back to smiling cutely and poking at her father's nose with a tiny finger. Martha laughed, unable to help it. "What?" She asked when he just stared at her in question. "She's probably wondering what it is, dear!"

"A nose."

"Yes, but it's so much bigger than her own," She explained, and she giggled even more at the sour look he gave her.

Dracula just eyed her. "Are you telling me that my nose is big?"

"No," She liked unconvincingly. "I was just...I mean, she's a baby, so hers is tiny compared to... Alright! Fine!" She gave in, exploding into giggles again. "It's just a bit large, Vlad!"

"Hmm. Well, I see that you have not lost your childish charm," Dracula muttered, pretending to be angry - but he was smiling widely at her once again. "You're still a hundred and eighteen at heart, aren't you?"

She wrapped her arms around his waist, nuzzling into the crook of his neck from behind. "Maybe...you make me feel like it sometimes, and not because of the age difference either."

It wasn't as if they were newly-weds - far from it - and they had a child of their own; and yet, he couldn't help but silently agree with her. Something about being with his wife made everything new and exciting, as if he were a new fully-grown vampire again.

And that was how he knew she was the only one for him.

* * *

Dracula had seen quite a lot of things during his lifetime; different monsters, different places, his hotel actually being opened, a _human_ entering his hotel, his daughter falling in love with said human...in short, he had seen it all. He loved getting to see all of the different things that changed and shifted in his life, even if he didn't really want it to very much.

One of his favourite things was, for a reason he liked to keep secret, seeing how his daughter and Johnny's relationship played out over the years.

At first it had simply been like every teen-aged relationship; the two would talk in letters and over the phone about staying up late in the morning and watching movies together, banter over goofily silly things before laughing it over - and of course the occasional argument. But as time started to pass, he quickly realized that it wasn't like a throwaway relationship that one experienced before a zing - this was the real thing.

It started with small things, about a year later when they came back home for her birthday - glances and secretive smiles here and there, barely noticeable unless you looked for it specifically. Then, one night, it went one step further; while the couple had been talking to the Count and a couple of their friends excitedly about their travels, Johnny had turned his head to look at Mavis - and the smile he gave, along with the bright lights in his eyes, was immediately telling.

It was a breath-taking look - Dracula knew it well, since he and Martha had looked at each other like that countless times centuries ago - that held so much love, devotion and power. It was like Johnny was looking at something he considered to be special, something that was more beautiful than anything else he'd seen; it were as if he was fully content with everything in his life, and a look that just screamed utter devotion to even the simplest of onlookers.

While he felt slightly uncomfortable with this, Dracula did feel somewhat grateful that his daughter was with someone who clearly cared for her, someone who would look after her when he himself couldn't. For a couple of their age, they seemed rather mature (to Dracula, at least), and not just because of the loving looks; at their age, it wouldn't have been expected for two people to be so sure of their love and how long it would last, even in the monster world where zings occurred.

And yet, there _was_ an innocent quality to it, maybe because of their ages and inexperience in such relationships; it didn't escape his notice that it went far beyond just being in love. The two were often seen laughing and joking together, sometimes venturing out to the pool for a chicken fight or sneaking into the dining room for a flying table race or two - they were friends as well as lovers, relying on each other to have fun.

It was strange, he decided to himself, that while their relationship was so serious in the sense that they knew they were meant to be, they also seemed in no hurry to settle down together or anything; they were having fun, travelling the world and seeing new things instead. They joked around, like kids, teasing each other childishly and actually acting their ages.

Dracula couldn't help but compare it to his own time with Martha; they, too, had met and zinged when his wife was one hundred and eighteen. But they had been young back then - Martha was younger than him too - so he'd decided to take it slowly, not to rush anything in case he ruined it. Of course, she'd grown impatient with all of the slowness and taken the first move by kissing him shortly after they first met - not that he'd complained too much, mind you. Seeing his daughter and Johnny made the memories flood back to him, and the elder vampire would often find himself being broken out of a daze by a guest or zombie appearing in front of him for help.

Of course, while he was happy for them (and glad that his daughter had someone to love and cherish her), he was her father first and foremost; there were precautions he had to take, questions he had to ask, so that he could be comfortable with the knowledge that she was safe - even if the answers themselves may have made him feel uncomfortable.

"Mavy," He said once he'd managed to get her alone one night; Johnny had gone down to the pool for yet another party, and she'd agreed to meet him down there after she finished talking to her father. "We need to talk."

"Okay," Mavis agreed, kind of confused. "About what?"

The Count put his hands on her shoulders, giving her a very serious look. "Now, I know that you and Johnny...you are quite close, yes?" She nodded. "Well, I am happy for you, Sweet-Ums, I really am! But I just..." He hesitated. "You are both so young, and I want what is best for you - for both of you."

Mavis nodded again, giving him an odd look. "Of course. But what are you talking about?"

He sighed, shutting his eyes as he continued this rather unpleasant talk. "There is no need for rush in a relationship," He told her. "Rushing will only ruin it. Do you understand?" He didn't wait for answer, instead opening his eyes and gazing at her again. "Now, although I have trusted Johnny to take care of you while you both travel, I do not trust him in other areas..."

_What on Earth-?_

"Humans do not live for very long," He stated. "And they feel the need to rush their lives, to get everything done before it's too late. Uhh...I've recently done some research on them," Dracula admitted, and Mavis' eyes widened slightly. "And I've learnt of some of the things they do at young ages - dangerous things, stupid things...and of course, rather heavy things that they're not ready for."

_Please don't this be what I think it is._

The elder vampire took a deep breath. "Look, I'm going to cut to it; humans, when they're your age - well, their version of your age - do...things...together. A lot of the time, according to the research I have uncovered, is that the...uhh...girls are forced into it because of the boys."

_Holy rabies. It is what I think it is._

"Be honest with me, darling - has Johnny forced you-"

Mavis coughed uncomfortably, sure she would blush if she could. "No! Of course not!"

Dracula breathed out in relief, giving her a nervous smile. "Hehe...I knew that. I just wanted to be sure, Mavy." He paused, and the younger vampire was almost completely sure she knew what was coming next. "I do not mean to...you know...intrude or anything, but I care about you, Mavy."

"I know," She mumbled, willing in her head that he would go no further.

But he did. "So...you know. If you want to tell me anything-"

"I don't," She interrupted quickly, looking away as she became more embarrassed. "Dad, I think I get the message-"

"I understand if something _did_ happen," He hurriedly told her, raising his hands in self-defence. "I mean, you _are_ a zinged couple travelling together - I mean, sharing hotel rooms and what have you probably means that you were rather close, and urges _do_ occur-"

"DAD!" She shouted desperately, standing up from the bed and staring at him pleadingly. " _Please_ stop!"

"Right, of course," He agreed quickly, also standing up. "It is none of my business, after all. But if you wanted to talk to someone-"

"I will talk to you," Mavis finished quietly, even though she would have rather gone to either Wanda or Eunice about this kind of thing. "Can I please go down to the pool now?"

Dracula nodded, giving her a small smile. "Of course, Sweet Fangs! In fact, I will come down with you!"

"Fine. But no giving Johnny 'a talk'," She warned as they headed for the door. "I mean it, Dad."

"I give you my word," He promised - although he badly wanted to, even if it would just be intimidating the human into not doing anything with his daughter.


	26. Z - Zing

Martha hummed to herself as she finished her drawing, sitting back so that the sleeves of her dress didn't smudge the ink; she just had to wait for the pages to finish drying, and then it would be ready to bind into a book.

She knew she didn't need to - after all, her daughter hadn't even learnt how to walk yet - but she couldn't take any chances; humans were wiping out monsters every day, and while she firmly believed that one day that monsters and humans could co-exist in peace, that could be centuries away.

"That is a good drawing," She heard a thick Transylvanian accent say from behind her, and she turned on the chair to look at the vampire who had just entered the room. "But I must say, you've spent a lot of time on this 'little project' of yours - what exactly is it?"

"A surprise," She answered teasingly, standing up to wrap her arms around her husband. "For both you and Mavis; that means no peeking, Mister!"

Dracula raised an eyebrow. "But it's not for me? So why should I not get to see?"

"Because it's...it's special," She admitted softly, eyes twinkling. "It's just for Mavis to see, when she reaches a certain age - it's for her one hundred and eighteenth birthday."

"But that is over a hundred years away," Dracula stated. "You have a long time to do it."

This was were Martha had to sigh - she really didn't want to admit it to her husband, lest she sound like a crazy bat, but she knew she owed him an explanation of some kind. "I know you say that we're safe here," She told him, not looking at him. "But you've heard the news from our friends; only last week, that sweet newly-married yeti couple were torched and badly injured just because they were on their honeymoon. Humans aren't...aren't so accepting of us right now, and I just want to be prepared."

"But nothing will hurt you," Dracula reminded her, putting two fingers under her chin and tilting her face upwards so that they were eye-to-eye again. "Or our precious Mavy; I built this castle to keep us safe. Do you really think I'd let the humans get you?"

"No...but regardless, I'd still like to be prepared." She sighed, tilting her head so that they were forehead to forehead. "If something _does_ happen, and I can't give this to her-"

"But you will be able to," The Count said quietly.

Martha nodded. "Hopefully, yes. But I just want you to promise me that, if I'm not here for some reason, then you'll give this present to her when she turns one-hundred and eighteen - not before. And you don't get to peek either!"

"Alright," He agreed, giving a small chuckle. "I won't peek. I shall find out eventually. Now," He smiled down at her. "I was about to wake Mavy from her nap, to feed her. Do you want to help me?"

"In a minute," She told him, nodding as she pulled herself out of his arms. "Just let me finish what I'm doing, and I'll be down soon."

As her husband left, Martha smiled to herself; although she hoped she'd get to see her daughter grow up and see the present, it still felt good to know that her husband would take care of their baby if she couldn't. She turned back to the book she had been writing - she briefly wondered if she should illustrate the last page, but then decided that the message was the most important thing.

_Your zing will come, my love. Cherish it._

She picked up the quill again, dipped it in ink and began to write out a, ' _Love, Mommy_ ' in neat cursive letters: by the time her daughter read this, she would probably have been past the stage of calling her mother 'mommy' but Martha couldn't bear the thought of her baby being that grown-up just yet. While Martha knew that her daughter finding her zing would be very far off in the future, probably after receiving this present, she still wanted her daughter to be ready for it - to know how important it was.

 _She'll be fine,_ Martha thought as she pulled all of the papers into her arms and got up to leave the room _. With or without me there._

* * *

 _Two lonely bats crashed in the night_...

Mavis' eyes had widened when she saw the broom hurtling towards her; she briefly registered something on the broom screaming too, but before she could get a good look the mass had hit her and sent her flying to the ground. It hadn't been that high a drop, but it still hurt really badly. She let out a groan, rubbing at her head with her hand, before looking up to see what on Earth could have hit her - and, boy, was it a pleasant experience.

_They felt a zing, love at first sight._

Johnny let out a soft groan, looking up groggily - and his heart stopped beating in his chest, a pink light flashing across his eyes at the same time as it did in Mavis'. _Wow...she's beautiful._ He felt his mouth drop open slightly, eyes widening as he took her in; she seemed different from any other girl he'd seen...she had a pale complexion contrasted by dark clothes that just seemed to oddly suit her, and he was sure if anyone else had tried it then it wouldn't have worked.

_They knew right then that they'd be husband and wife._

Okay, so maybe they hadn't exactly knew at that exact moment, but it soon became crystal clear that this was special...this zing was a one time thing, showing that they were practically made for each other. If Johnny could have had it his way, then he would have asked to marry her as soon as he could - maybe just a year after first meeting her - but he knew he had to play it right, to make it as normal a relationship could be (well, as normal as it could be when she was a vampire and he was a human that is).

Deep down, however, both of them knew exactly where the relationship was going from the start: they knew that they had hundreds of years left together, thanks to the fact they were both so young when they met, which was why they decided to take it slowly.

_For a zing only happens once in your life._ _Your zing will come, my love. Cherish it._

And they did cherish it: when travelling from country to country, they made sure that they were enjoying the sights together. When the opportunity for a party or music concert came along, they attended and spent the entire evening together as much as possible; watching movies became the perfect chance to cuddle up and just enjoy each other's company with no words having to be said between them. When the day came that Johnny decided he wanted to go ahead and ask her to marry him, he didn't even have to hesitate in that decision - and she didn't hesitate in her answer either.

To clarify, a zing isn't immediately strong when it first occurs; the strength builds up over time, from a budding closeness to just pure love. This was obvious in Mavis and Johnny's relationship, going from hardly knowing each other (but still feeling a slight attraction all the same) to knowing that they'd found their soul mate for life, to being completely content to spend their time together even if they were doing next to nothing.

The zing is one of the most powerful magical bonds out there - more powerful than Dracula's mind control and more magical than the witches' cleaning spells at the hotel - this was obvious wherever you looked. For example, Dracula was still completely and utterly devoted to his darling Martha, despite the length of time passing since her death. He never completely got over it, instead throwing himself into taking care of their daughter, Mavis, and then later his grandchildren - at first, Mavis never understood why: she knew that her father had loved her mother, but it still seemed slightly odd to her that he never fully moved on.

But then she experienced her zing - she nearly lost it too. And suddenly, she understood completely what her father had been mourning over; she felt very blessed that Johnny came back soon after, bringing the dreams of travelling the world and being happy with him, because the heartbreak she'd experienced in the few hours of him being 'gone forever' was almost too much to bear.

A zing is a once in a lifetime thing - you never find more than one - and many awful things happen in the world; death, serious injury, prejudice... And that was why, over the years, Johnny and Mavis made the most of it whilst they still could.

* * *

"Daddy! Daddy! You promised, Daddy!"

"Alright!" Johnny laughed as he gave in, picking Mina up and heading down the hall to her room. "I'm doing it...So, have you brushed your fangs?"

Mina nodded excitedly.

"Washed your face?"

" _Yes_ , Daddy," She stressed, rolling her eyes slightly. "Now can you tell me a bedtime story? _Please_?"

The redhead chuckled. "Yup." He set his daughter down on the coffin-bed, waiting for her to crawl underneath the pink duvet before sitting down next to her. "You comfy now?"

The dark-haired girl nodded before pausing to think; after a few seconds of deliberating, she shook her head. "Nuh-uh - I need my Martha-bat."

"Oh, of course!" He reached over her tiny form and grabbed the small bat plush. Dracula had bought it for his youngest granddaughter shortly after her birth, naming it after his deceased love and proclaiming that it would watch over Mina in the day, just like her grandmother's spirit. "There we go...no chance of daymares now...You ready?"

"Uh-huh," Mina nodded, clutching Martha-bat in her tiny hands and looking up at her father expectantly.

The older vampire brushed a lock of dark hair off her forehead affectionately. "So, what story do you want to hear? How about the time I went to that concert and nearly got eaten? Or how about the time I nearly died falling down a cliff?"

The child thought for a moment, brown eyes focused on him as she decided. "I want...I wanna hear about how you and Mommy met - did you zing?"

"Well, duh!" Johnny laughed, and she smiled contently with this knowledge. "Well, alright. We met in Grandpa's hotel, in the lobby-"

"Were you a guest there then, Daddy?" Mina asked, eyes wide with excitement.

"Err...kinda." Although he wasn't ashamed in any way that he'd been a human for the first twenty five years of his life, he and Mavis had decided that it may have been just a touch too complicated for their youngest daughter to understand - the older two knew, and Mina would when she got older, but for now she would remain peacefully innocent. "You know how I travelled the world, even before I met Mommy, right? Well, I was travelling when I found the hotel."

Mina gave a tiny, dainty yawn. "Did you like it there?"

"Well, yeah! Who doesn't?" He chuckled to himself. "Anyway, you know how I get lost and stuff easily?"

"Yes," His daughter agreed, nodding a little. "Grandpa says that you're clumsy and go places that you shouldn't."

 _Thanks, Drac._ "Yeah, well, I ended up... _borrowing_ a witch's broom."

"Why?" She asked, tilting her head to show that she was confused. "Did you want to do some cleaning?"

"Nah, I just wanted to fly on one," He said, shrugging his shoulders slightly. "Anyway, 'cause I'm not that good at broom-riding or anything, I lost total control of it. And then this vampire girl was walking down the stairs, right, and...and I kinda crashed into her."

Mina gave a high, adorable giggle. "Oh, no! Did it hurt? Was she angry at you?"

"It hurt a little," He admitted, reaching up absentmindedly to rub his head as he thought back. "So I looked up, totally ready to apologize to the girl I'd hit, and-"

"And you felt a zing!" Mina interrupted excitedly, jumping up in her bed and beaming happily. "Because it was Mommy that you hit!"

"Hey, you know this story already!" He accused jokingly, reaching his fingers to tickle her until she laid back down. "Do I really need to tell you if you already know?"

Mina nodded quickly. "Yes! Yes!"

"Well, why don't you just tell it to me?" He asked, not really meaning it - he'd had this conversation too many times to count with all of his kids, and it was the same answer every time.

Mina shook her head. "No! It's better when you do it, Daddy!"

Call him an idiot, but Johnny still loved hearing his kids say it.

"Please finish it, Daddy," The little vampire begged, gazing up at him with wide hazel eyes. "Martha-bat wants to hear it too."

As if to prove the point, she made the bat plush nod it's head.

Johnny grinned, tucking her underneath the blankets again. "Well, alright, but only 'cause Martha-bat wants to hear. Where was I?"

"You and Mommy had just zinged," She reminded him, snuggling into her pillow so that she comfortable. "Then what?"

"Well," He continued, trying to remember. "Your Grandpa wasn't too happy, I can remember that...probably because I'd just messed up the lobby and knocked your Mom down the stairs. But he let me stay anyway, - I'm so glad that he did." He paused as his daughter yawned, and something told him that it wouldn't be too long until she would be asleep. "Your Mommy and I started to hang out; you know, sitting on the roof, playing in the pool, that kind of thing. So, one night it was your Mommy's birthday, and there was this huge party - I helped organise, and she spent most of the night dancing with me."

"And then?"

"And then there was this moment," He recounted, slowing down as he remembered it in full-detail. "She looked at me, and I just...when you're older, you'll understand what I mean." She blinked but didn't protest at his lack of description. "She was so beautiful, Mina, and I knew that I'd fallen in love."

She gave another yawn, this time bigger than the last time, before speaking. "Did you kiss her, Daddy?"

"Yeah...well," He hesitated thoughtfully. "Your Mommy kissed me first, because I wasn't brave enough to." He thought about the next few events: he didn't really want to go on forever, since she really did have to sleep, and he didn't know how to tell her that her Grandpa hadn't wanted him there at first in case it made her ask more questions, so he decided to just skip that bit for that night. "So, after we kissed, we started dating and travelling the world together."

"And then?"

Johnny smiled at her, tweaking her button nose affectionately. " _And then_ , when we finished travelling, we got married here at the hotel and settled down in a nice house."

Her eyes widened further, mouth falling open in a grin scarily accurate to his own. "And then?!"

"And then we had three kids," He laughed, leaning down and nuzzling noses with her. "We called them Lucy, Jack and...oh," He pretended to frown, as if he'd forgotten. "I forget the last name...Maria? No, it's probably Meg or Mara..."

"My name's Mina, Daddy!" She giggled.

He grinned down at her. "Oh yeah! Silly me!" The two laughed together for another minute or so before Johnny cleared his throat and smiled down at her lovingly. "I think you should get some sleep now, cutie - you don't want to be tired when we go to the hotel tomorrow night, do you?"

She shook her head, pouting at having to go to bed but snuggling further into the coffin anyway. "Okay. Goodnight, Daddy. I love you."

Johnny leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Goodnight, Mina. I love you too."

"How much?" She asked softly, giving a small yawn.

"Pfft! More than all the skies and space out there of course!" He answered, grinning down at her as she blinked sleepily. "Sweet dreams, Mina. Don't let the daymares get you."

"They won't," She mumbled, turning on her side and wrapping her arms around her favourite toy. "Martha-bat will protect me."

Johnny watched her for another few seconds, waiting until she'd shut her eyes and started breathing slowly, before standing up to leave. He stopped by the bedroom door to take one last look at her - she was half-asleep by now, and looking adorably peaceful - and opened the door to leave. He made sure to shut it behind him before setting off down the hallway and to his and Mavis' own bedroom. He knew that their older two children were probably in their rooms and listening to music, but since they were that much older there wasn't any point in forcing them to go to sleep just yet.

In their room, he found his wife lying on the bed and reading a magazine. "Is she asleep?"

"Yeah, just about," He told her, flopping down next to her. He smiled at her, wrapping an arm around her waist and staring at her with adoring hazel eyes.

Mavis gave a small smile of her own, knowing what he was doing, and put her magazine down. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

Johnny just shrugged, still grinning at her. "I dunno...I guess I was just thinking about some stuff..."

"Mina asked about us meeting, didn't she?" Mavis guessed knowingly, and laughed when her husband nodded. "I should have known..." He pulled her further into his arms and she didn't resist, wrapping her arms around him too and nuzzling their noses together. "What 'stuff' have you been thinking about?"

"Oh, you know...everything," He said vaguely, and she gave him a look. "Alright, fine! I was just thinking back to all that stuff that happened...the whole zing thing, and having to be disguised as a Stein. That kind of thing."

He leaned in closer, so that their lips were only a few centimetres apart; Mavis took the initiative and closed the distance between them with a soft, gentle kiss. It wasn't a particularly passionate or fiery one, but rather an emotional gentle one that ended much too quickly for their liking.

"I'm really glad I met you," Johnny breathed, words somewhat warm against her skin.

She smiled. "I'm glad that you knocked me down the stairs on my birthday too."

He chuckled, rolling his eyes slightly. "Gee, wait to make it romantic, Mavy!"

"Fine," Mavis giggled, leaning forwards so that their noses were touching again. "I love you."

"I love you too," Johnny said back softly, moving in to kiss her again.

Neither of them had to say anything else - they knew that they'd love each other forever, so there was no point in saying it aloud.


	27. Y - Young (Extended)

Despite all of his questioning, Dracula had been unable to get anything out of his daughter on the sex matter.

He knew that it was really none of his business - but he didn't really care. Mavis was his daughter, the only family he had left now; if something happened to her or made her unhappy, it would kill him inside - even if this made them both uncomfortable, he'd much rather know that his daughter was happy and safe than unhappy.

"Dad!" Mavis growled one night when he'd followed her around and to the library. "For goodness sake, I'm not telling you anything! Can't you just leave me alone about it?"

"I wish I could," Dracula said lightly, shrugging. "But I'm just worried, sweet fangs! I mean, what if you got forced into something you weren't ready for?" _Well, I'd have to kill Johnny then_ , he thought privately - as much as he had grown fond of the human, he wouldn't hesitate to do it.

"I'm a fully-grown adult now," Mavis stressed, looking quite annoyed. "You promised that you weren't going to baby me all the time!"

"But I'm not! I'm merely making sure that Johnny is being...ehh...a _gentleman_ to you, because that is what you deserve, Sweet-Ums."

Mavis just rolled her eyes. "Dad, he's not _forcing_ me to do _anything_. Now can you get off my wings about it?!"

Before he could question her any further, she'd turned into a bat and flown away from him as swiftly as she could.

It wasn't like he wanted actual details - he'd rather go out in sunlight while eating garlic bread with a stake in his heart than get actual details - but he just...wanted to be sure. Sure that his daughter was safe from harm, safe from being hurt...

Safe from being too grown up - from not being his precious Mavy still.

Dracula, after weeks of no answers, was starting to consider giving up; he'd just have to accept that if something _was_ happening then it was under his daughter and Johnny's control. _Heh...maybe nothing's happening and I'm just overreacting,_ he thought to himself contently, and he accepted this as an answer.

He found that this was the wrong choice to make.

The Count had simply been doing his rounds before the Sun came up, making sure that all of the guests were in their rooms and happy with the accommodation - if they weren't, then he'd fix it for them with no problems.

One problem had taken a little longer than the others, though; a fly had buzzed over to him and said that he was uncomfortable with the room he'd been given.

"It's not like I'm ungreatful," The fly apologized nervously. "I just feel rather...you know...being roomed next to a giant _spider_ of all things..."

"I'm sure he is rather friendly," Dracula told the fly gently, but he gave a nod. "However, I do understand where you are coming from, and I shall arrange for one of the zombies to take you to a different room."

This had taken about twenty minutes; all of his zombies had been pre-occupied by the apparently difficult tasks of fixing leaks in ceilings, unclogging toilets, bringing baggage up to monsters' bedrooms and actually finding their way back to the front desk. By the time he'd actually found one, lurking on one of the higher floors dimly, and managed to deal with the problem it was nearly time for him to get some rest of his own.

Although running a hotel was definitely hard work, it was worth it.

The last room he always made sure to check was his daughter's; although he was confident that she was safe and happy whenever she stayed at the hotel, it still put his mind at ease to see it for himself. Usually Mavis would be asleep, tired after a long night, or reading a magazine on her bed in her pyjamas, and so he was expecting that to be the case when he went to check on his daughter that morning.

Boy, was he wrong.

Dracula hummed to himself as he strode up the corridor to the right room, using his acute sense of hearing to make sure that all of the other guests were quiet and content - so far so good. When he reached Mavis' room, he rose his hand to knock - a voice from around his waist stopped him.

" _Oohh! You don't want to go in there!_ " The shrunken head cried, smirking slightly as she swang from the door-knob.

Dracula raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? And why not?"

" _You don't want to know, Count,_ " The head snorted. " _Trust me on this one!_ "

Of course he wanted to know - it was his daughter! Ignoring the jabber of the talking head, he put his right hand on the wood of the door slowly, so as not to make any noise, and started to quietly push it open.

The first indication that something was unusual was when he heard a muffled grunt from inside the room. _An intruder?!_ Just as he managed to open the door halfway, the Count heard a high-pitched, muffled noise that could only be his daughter.

He found himself worried, and managed to quietly open the door further.

And then he heard a giggle, definitely from Mavis. _Ehh...wait a minute...why is she giggling?_ Unable to help it, Dracula threw the door open the rest of the way and zoomed into the room.

And immediately wished he hadn't.

"Oh my God!" Johnny yelled, jolting upwards and falling backwards off the bed.

Mavis also jolted upwards, eyes widening as she realized what was going on. "DAD?!"

Dracula desperately wished he hadn't seen it; his daughter and Johnny underneath the sheets together, half of their clothes missing as they had presumably kissed (he didn't dare think what else they could have been doing)...The time stretched on, the human going bright red in the face as the couple both stared at the older vampire in absolute horror.

He couldn't help it. "What is going on?!" Dracula asked, narrowing his eyes at Johnny. "YOU!"

"Drac, I-I swear..." Johnny mumbled quickly, backing away slightly and cross his arms over his chest as if it would hide his skin from view. "We weren't...well...we were, but-"

Suddenly, the Count was standing above the red-head, his demon-face on full-display as his anger took over. "WHAT WERE YOU DOING TO MY DAUGHTER?!" He roared, glaring down at Johnny and showing off his fangs.

"Nothing!" Johnny shouted desperately, cowering on the spot slightly. "Please don't suck all my blood out!"

"Dad, stop it!" Mavis shrieked, suddenly appearing next to them and trying to pull her father away from her boyfriend.

"What has he done to you?!" Dracula asked quickly, demon-face suddenly disappearing as he looked at his precious daughter. "Did he hurt you?"

Mavis rolled her eyes impatiently. "No, of course not!"

"But he was-"

If Mavis could have blushed then she would have, she was sure of it. She immediately averted her father's gaze and trained her eyes to the floor. "I...it was me, Dad...who...you know..."

Oh, did these two have a load of explaining to do.

* * *

Dracula had given the two exactly one minute to put some form of clothing back on, and then he'd dragged them both up to his office so that he could question them without the chance of being overheard.

Mavis and Johnny looked guiltily at each other when Dracula just stared at them from behind his desk, unsure what exactly they could say. Finally, Mavis broke the silence. "What do you want, Dad?" She asked, somewhat nervously.

Dracula just looked at her, completely at a loss. "First of all," He said slowly, having not recovered from the ordeal just yet. "What the _Hell_ did I just see?"

The two just looked at each other, Johnny going as red as his hair, and back at the Count. "Nothing," Johnny lied obviously, and the elder vampire just glared at him harshly. "I mean...we weren't doing anything yet...I mean-"

"What he means is that we weren't doing a lot," Mavis interrupted evasively. "At least, not a lot that's your business."

She was a Daddy's girl, her father's favourite thing in the entire world - something he would kill to protect. And, having been his daughter for over a hundred years, she had learnt to use this to her advantage; she had him wrapped around her little finger, and she could make him do anything.

Although this was something Mavis had never thought she'd have to face.

"Well," The Count bit out testily, straightening up and eying the two. "It _is_ my business, it appears, because I care about you, Mavy." He turned back to Johnny and glared at him. "What were you forcing my daughter to do?"

"Nothing!" Johnny defended quickly, going bright red. "Honestly, I'd never force her to do anything, Drac!"

"Then what were you doing underneath that sheet?!" Dracula snarled, clearly not believing the human. His eyes glowed dangerously, showing that he was very close to losing his temper sometime soon. "Because I know for a fact that you two were not playing bingo underneath those sheets, Jonathan!"

 _Ah, crap. He's back to using my full name._ "No, it wasn't bingo," Johnny admitted embarrassedly, avoiding his girlfriend's father's gaze. "We were... Look, I wasn't forcing her to do anything, I swear!"

"He wasn't, Dad," Mavis intervened hurriedly, not wanting to see her boyfriend get ripped to shreds.

Dracula's hard gaze softened slightly when he turned back to Mavis - only a little, but it was a good sign nonetheless. "Then what was going on?"

Mavis looked down at the floor, not wanting to see her father's face. "I don't want to tell you, Dad."

The Count threw his hands up in the air, severely annoyed now. "So, what? _He_ isn't forcing you to do anything, and yet you were both underneath that duvet half-naked?! It makes no sense!" He turned back to Johnny and took another menacing step closer. "I don't know what you did, Jonathan, but I will make sure you never do it agai-"

"Holy Rabies! Dad, please just shut up!" Mavis snapped, surprising both her boyfriend and her father. "Look, you need to stop asking about this! I get that you're concerned, but it's really embarrassing and awkward - not just for me, but for both of us!"

Dracula blinked. "But...Mavy..."

"You want the truth?!" Mavis continued to rant, glaring at the Count angrily. "Fine! Yes, we're having sex! Big deal! No, Johnny has not forced me into anything - in fact, _I_ was the one who made the call the first time." She quickly side-eyed Johnny before continuing, a little more quiet and embarrassed than before. "I know I can't really say anything about Johnny, but I love him...of course I want to...you know. Are you happy now?"

Johnny had gone a deep, unattractive shade of red as he looked down desperately at the floor and waited for it to swallow him up. Dracula, meanwhile, could only stare at his daughter in shock at the news he'd just received.

"So," He finally managed, voice softer than before as he looked between the couple. "You are saying that you two are...you know?"

"Yes," Mavis stressed. "I just said that."

"But...but you are so young, Mavy..."

The dark-haired vampire rolled her eyes and gave an impatient sigh. "I'm not a baby anymore, Dad. I'm an adult now - I can make my own decisions about what I do with my own boyfriend."

Dracula could only look between the two, shocked and somewhat confused by this news; the very _idea_ of his daughter - who was only a hundred and nineteen - pursuing a sexual relationship with someone - a human at that - was a strange and foreign concept to him. After all, to him, she was still a child that needed protecting: young and innocent.

Well, it appeared that she wasn't as innocent as he had thought.

"Uhh...Drac?" Johnny mumbled, still bright red and refusing to look at the vampire. "Can we go back to our rooms? I'm kinda tired, so..."

 _Well...at least he's embarrassed too - that'll teach him._ "I guess," Dracula replied, not knowing what else he could say. "But-"

"I'm staying in my own room," Johnny agreed quickly, already heading for the door. "Got it."

As he left, Mavis sent her father an apologetic look. "I'm sorry you had to see that," She told him quietly, fidgeting on the spot. "I didn't know that you were going to check up on me this morning."

"It's...okay..." He managed, eyes still wide.

As his daughter left, not looking him in the eye, Dracula couldn't help but feel a mixture of emotions and feelings; on one hand, he'd just discovered what his daughter had been doing with her boyfriend in a way that no parent should have to see. But, then again, he _did_ feel somewhat relieved that Mavis wasn't being forced into anything that she wasn't ready for - that she was in control of things.

At the end of the night, it didn't matter how old she was - to him, she'd always be too young for these things.


	28. (Alternate) K - Kids

Being one of seven kids, of course Johnny was used to other kids; little ones, big ones, brothers, cousins, friends, enemies...the whole lot. Most people - in particular adults - were puzzled by how easy he found it to talk to children so openly even once he'd grown up. For Johnny, it was pretty much a no-brainer.

For the most part, it was because he was used to them. Then again, looking at it properly, he was never really an adult type - he was always an oblivious guy who just liked to chill and rock out...to have fun overall and leave the boring stuff for later.

Once he'd started travelling around the world, he didn't get to see his relatives all that often - despite the fact he was having fun, he still missed them deeply and wished he could see them. In particular he was missing the younger members of his family; the little ones that he could easily make laugh, the ones who didn't judge his carefree nature too harshly...Hell, the kids _laughed_ when he knocked something over! If that wasn't great then he didn't know what was.

And, seriously, if you thought he found human kids cute, wait until he saw monster children.

"Okay, so that one is...Uhh..."

"Wally," Mavis told him immediately, not even having to study the pup closer to tell. "And the one he's fighting with is Wilbur."

Johnny just blinked, sitting back on his haunches as he watched the werewolf pups play. "How the heck do you keep track of them all, Mavy?" He asked, shaking his head. "I mean, I thought I was pretty clever for remembering which of my brother's is which but this...there's so many!"

His girlfriend shrugged and smiled. "It just comes naturally, I guess. I've known them since they were born, so I can kinda just look at one and...just tell."

This made sense to Johnny, so he turned back around and scanned the group for a moment. "Someone's missing," He decided suspiciously. "I think...there's usually a girl pup, right? Where's she?"

Mavis scanned the group of pups and frowned to herself slightly. "Huh. Usually Winnie's running around after them..."

"I'll go look for her," Johnny said, standing up and heading for the stairs. "I mean, she can't be too far, right?"

Thanks to his pretty limited knowledge of the hotel floors and where all the different rooms were located on the different floors, it took a lot longer than he was anticipating. Okay, so he and Mavis were _both_ meant to be watching the pups while Wayne and Wanda relaxed for the evening with their friends, but they probably wouldn't have been all that happy if they came back and saw one of the pups missing.

 _Well, I guess I'll just have to work my way up,_ He thought, and for some reason the thought excited him; after all, now that he was dating Mavis he supposed the hotel was going to be an important place to them...he might as well get used to it if he was going to be connected to it for the rest of his life.

On the first floor there was only a bunch of rooms, and the only monsters he came across were zombies; the human tried asking them if they'd seen Winnie, but he got nowhere - a few backed away shyly while others stared at him with glazed over looks in their eyes. The rest of the floors proved just as useless, and any monsters he went near backed against the walls as if frightened. He still sent them friendly smiles, hoping to win them over, and continued on his way.

 _Where the heck is she?_ Johnny thought as he travelled back downstairs on the elevator. _Seriously? It's like she totally disappeared._

The doors opened and he found himself in the bar area on the ground floor - a somewhat welcomed sight greeted him.

The bar was empty except for a few quiet monsters sitting at the bar and nursing drinks as they spoke in hushed tones; in the corner, curled up on a chair of somewhat, was a tiny werewolf pup in a pink dress asleep, sucking her binky peacefully.

 _Well dang_.

Johnny walked over to her and bent beside the chair to take a closer look; she was definitely asleep, and there was a small smile on her face as she dreamed about something nice. _D'aww..._ Johnny grinned to himself and rubbed at the spot behind her ears that he knew canines liked: in response, Winnie fidgeted and let out a small giggle in her sleep.

 _I'll let her sleep,_ Johnny decided, standing up properly again and looking around for something to cover her up in; the only thing around was tapestries but Dracula wouldn't have taken too kindly to him ripping them off the wall just to cover a child with. Instead, he shucked off his sweatshirt somewhat regretfully and covered the sleeping pup with it - she would probably smell his scent on it and return it to him later.

Turning around and casting one more look over his shoulder, Johnny just found that the sight made him miss his family even more.

* * *

Despite being about five months pregnant, Mavis had whole-heartedly agreed to a visit to see her husband's family; after all, this was the baby's family too and who was she to deny them from seeing this child when they came along? Besides, she adored all of the family so much that she too had begun to miss them, and a trip to see them was just what she needed.

Of course, the moment Johnny and Mavis stepped foot in Johnny's parents' house Jean was hugging them tightly.

"Oh, it's so good to see you!" She breathed, hugging her son close to her and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "It's been too long...And Mavis! My, you look _wonderful_!"

Mavis laughed and hugged her mother-in-law tightly. "Thanks, I guess."

Jean eyed the growing baby bump with great interest. "May I...you know?" The vampire nodded, and Jean placed her hands on the bump as she grinned. "They're getting big," She commented, rubbing at the bulge affectionately. "How many more months?"

"About four."

"Mom, they're not even born yet - you don't need to spoil them just yet!" Johnny joked, although he too put a hand on his wife's stomach and rubbed with a smile on his face. "They've been kicking a ton, right Mavy? You should feel them during the day when we try sleeping - they go totally crazy!"

"And I suppose there's no chance of finding out the gender?" Jean questioned in a somewhat hesitant way, training her eyes on the two. "Because that would make buying the gifts a lot easier."

Mavis sighed and shook her head. "No, unfortunately. Trust me, it's driving us crazy too."

"Hmm...well, a surprise is always nice too." The woman took her hand away from the daughter-in-law's stomach and eyed her son with a beady eye. "Now, Johnny - I expect that you're looking after Mavis, correct? Because the last thing a pregnant woman needs, human or vampire, is to stress."

"Oh, trust me," Johnny snorted. "I've tried helping but she just gets moody and yells."

That particular comment had put him in 'the doghouse' for a few days.

After spending a couple of days with Joe and Jean, the two headed to visit Johnny's eldest brother, Matt, and his wife, Rachel; the two, who had been married for just a little longer than Johnny and Mavis had, already had one son and another baby on the way.

"How do you still look so good?" Rachel asked in disbelief when she saw Mavis that evening, shaking her head. "I swear, you're further along than I am and you still look amazing!"

"Oh, trust me," Mavis laughed. "I don't feel it - all of my clothes are _way_ too tight...and I can't even see my feet anymore!"

While Matt and Johnny headed out to a local bar (Matt saying something about giving his little brother some advice about parenting), this left the two women to their own devices and a chance to catch up.

"You won't believe how exhausting a kid is," Rachel sighed, rubbing at her back as she sat down. "Especially Josh - he's such a handful now, I can't even imagine what he'll be like in a few years time."

"I'm sure I'll find out soon," Mavis assured her, putting her hands on her stomach as the baby kicked against her stomach to alert that her that they were awake. "Oh! That was the baby," She explained when Rachel just stared, and the older woman nodded in understanding. "Every time they wake up they feel the need to let me know."

The brunette gave a small laugh. "Yeah. Every morning when Josh gets up he runs into our room and starts yelling at the top of his lungs. I mean, I love him, don't get me wrong...but I haven't had a decent night's sleep in three years."

The conversation continued like this for another half an hour or so, and Mavis found herself extremely pleased that she'd had the opportunity to catch up with her sister-in-law and get some tips about babies before hers was born. It made her feel slightly more prepared - but she was still nervous too.

Mavis was just considering asking to use the bathroom when she heard the sound of footsteps from the hallway and Rachel beamed. "I guess he's awake...let me go and put him back to bed."

Before she could stand up, however, a tiny figure entered the living room while rubbing their eyes and looking around blearily. "Mommy?" He saw Rachel and walked over to her before allowing the brunette to pull him into her lap.

Rachel pressed her lips against his forehead affectionately. "What are you doing up, Mister? Daddy and I tucked you into bed already."

"Couln' sleep," He mumbled tiredly before his eyes trained on Mavis. "Who 's tha'?"

Rachel gave a small laugh. "That's your Auntie Mavis."

Mavis sent her nephew a nervous smile. "Hey."

Josh blinked and looked at his mother, as if wanting to know more. "You know that picture we showed you of Daddy's family?" Rachel asked, and the boy gave a tiny nod. "Well, do you remember that we told you that one of your Daddy's brothers lives in Romania, in Europe?"

"Uh-huh."

"Your Auntie Mavis is married to him," The brunette continued. "Why don't you go and say Hello to her properly?"

Josh nodded, slipping out of her lap, and took a few steps towards Mavis. "Hello," He said quietly, looking up at her shyly. " 'm Josh."

"Hi, Josh," Mavis replied, sending him a smile. "It's great to meet you."

Josh just smiled up at her with dimples; his red hair was mussed and untidy, thanks to his short sleep, and his eyes - green and obviously inherited from his mother - were peering up at her with mixed curiosity and nervousness. Safe to say, he was completely and utterly _adorable_.

" 'm this many," Josh mumbled, holding up his fingers and taking another step closer. "Daddy said so."

"Three?" Mavis asked, and he nodded. "Wow, that's a big age!"

Once again, Josh smiled; this time he took the risk and crawled right into the vampire's lap. For a moment his eyes just stared at the bulge on Mavis' stomach, eyes wide, before turning his head to his mother. "Baby?"

Rachel nodded, a smile gracing her features. "Yup - you're going to have a baby cousin _and_ a baby brother or sister!"

He smelt nice...not in an 'I want to eat him' way of course - he smelt like soap and baby powder, clean and innocent. He smelt exactly like a child from her world would, and for a moment Mavis allowed herself to imagine what it would be like with her and Johnny's baby - it was easy enough since all she could in front of her was messy red hair as her nephew snuggled into her.

She couldn't believe it - she'd fallen in love with her nephew. And if she'd fallen in love with her nephew after just two minutes of meeting him, there was no doubt how she'd feel about her own baby.

* * *

Certain aspects of child-rearing was never going to be easy for him, let's face it...but this...he hadn't quite anticipated this.

"Okay..." Johnny took a deep breath. "Lucy, if you eat this last bit of mouse then I'll play with you."

No response except for blue eyes that blinked. He was going to have to step up his game.

"Alright, fine," He thought aloud. "I'll be the pony and you can ride on my back to rescue Mommy."

Lucy just watched him, lips tightly shut.

"Kiddo, I really need you to eat this," Johnny begged, picking up the fork of roasted mouse and waving it in front of his daughter's face. "I told your Mommy that I'd get you to finish your dinner before she gets back from Grandpa's with Jack."

"No," She disagreed defiantly.

 _Damn it, she's difficult_. "Please?" He asked, practically whining. "Your Mommy's gonna kill me otherwise."

Lucy giggled, tilting her head to the side. "Can I help?"

 _Jeesh, I really do have a devil child!_ "Fine," He gave in, sighing and looking at the fork. There was only one way he'd get out of this alive. "I guess I'll have to eat it myself."

He put the mouse in his mouth, grimacing slightly at how cold it had become in the last hour, and swallowed; after many years of eating the monster food, he was starting to get used to it. Moments later, a tiny voice gasped out, "No! That's mine!"

Johnny raised a brow and regarded his daughter carefully - if this was going the way he thought it was going, he was onto something. "But...you said..."

Lucy frowned sadly. "I didn't mean it! I promise, Daddy, I'll eat it! I promise I will!"

Grinning in triumph, Johnny slid the plate and fork back to his daughter who immediately begun to dig in. He really did love her, but sometimes she was a little...difficult. Still, kids were like that and they grew out of it eventually...and besides, he supposed that all this trying to force her to eat food just helped them bond.

When she had finished, leaving no more than a small sliver of mouse skin on the edge of the plate, Johnny ruffled her already untidy hair and picked up the plate to take out and put in the kitchen. "See? That wasn't so hard!"

The look on her face as she watched him said otherwise, and she hurriedly tried to smooth down her hair - just like Johnny's, it wouldn't stay tidy for too long, much to her displeasure.

After disposing of the plate in the dishwasher, it was only about three seconds later that he felt tiny hands start to pull on his shorts; of course it was Lucy, who had crawled out to the hallway after him. She blinked up at him with big blue eyes so similar to her mother's pleadingly. "Please can you play with me, Daddy? You promised!"

All she had to do was add in a pout and he was hooked.


	29. (Alternate) C - Christmas

"Psst! Daniel!"

Daniel gave a grunt and rolled over onto his stomach. He opened one eye to see who dared to interrupt his sleep so early; his younger brother, Johnny, was standing there in his Batman pyjamas and grinning wildly with his unruly hair sticking up in odd directions.

"What?" Daniel managed, shutting his eye and giving a yawn. "It's early, Johnny, go back to-"

"But Santa came!" Johnny cried excitedly, climbing up onto his older brother's bed and jumping on it excitedly. "He came, and he left me a stocking, and it has candy and toys and my own pair of binoculars so that I can go exploring, and-"

"And it's early. Go back to bed."

Johnny gave a sad frown. "But...it's Christmas. I wanna see if Santa left anything under the tree."

Thank God he remembered that Johnny still believed in Santa Claus, because he would have otherwise snapped at him and yelled that Santa didn't exist. "Hmm...well, maybe Santa is on the roof now and he knows that you're awake so he won't go downstairs to leave the other presents. Go back to bed and he might leave some more."

But, of course, little brothers were relentless: Johnny gave a whine and shook his brother awake. "But Daniel! He came! Did he come to you? Did he leave a stocking by your bed too? Can I look?"

"No, you can't," Daniel muttered loudly, opening his eyes and glaring at the younger boy. "Look, Johnny, if you don't go back to sleep then I'll tell Mom and Dad. And then Santa won't come next year, 'cause you're being naughty by waking me up."

He could immediately tell that he'd upset his younger brother; Johnny stopped shaking Daniel and sat back on his haunches, bottom lip trembling with fright. "Will he really not come because I woke you up today?" He asked weakly, looking as though he was about to burst into tears.

"No, of course not," Daniel amended quickly, sitting up so that he could look at his younger brother properly. "I was just kidding and stuff, so that you'd let me sleep some more. He'll come next year if you're good, though."

Johnny let out a huge gasp of relief. "Yay! I was really scared for a minute..."

_I could see that._

"So, how long until we _can_ go downstairs and open presents?" The red-head pestered. "I'm so excited, did you know that?"

"I guessed it pretty easy."

Johnny just grinned even more, bouncing on the spot like the small child he was. "I can't wait to see what Santa left me! What do you think he got me? Oh! Do you think he got me that backpack from the mall that I wanted?"

"It's...definitely a possibility," Daniel managed, lying back down and shutting his eyes in the hope of getting some sleep. "Look, it's great that you're excited and all, but could you go back to bed? Just for another hour or so? Hell, you don't even need to sleep - just sit quietly and look through your stocking."

Johnny gave a small frown but nodded and slipped off of his older brother's bed. Daniel could briefly hear the sound of the younger boy going through his stocking from across the room, gasping in pleased surprise when he saw something he liked - which was basically everything, judging by how often he made these noises.

 _Huh, he's not too bad I guess,_ Daniel thought as he slipped into sleep. He, himself, had done exactly what Johnny had just done when he was younger - he'd done it to Matt and James several years running.

 _But I'm not telling Johnny that - let him grow up thinking he's the only excited one_.

* * *

When Johnny heard, he was - for lack of better words - astounded by the news.

"Hold on," He said, still shocked. "You...you don't have Christmas?"

Mavis rolled her eyes slightly. "No, it's not like that! We just...we do things differently-"

"We don't have Christmas," Dracula stated. "We have Hanukah, Johnny."

Johnny looked between his girlfriend and her father, waiting for one of them to laugh and say it was all a big joke to mess with him. "But...but that means that you're Jewish, right?"

"Exactly," Dracula agreed, somewhat relieved that Johnny was understanding.

"But how are you Jewish? I mean, you're monsters so...so I dunno how religion or anything works..." Johnny scratched his head, clearly confused. "So...you're Jewish _and_ monsters?"

Dracula leaned closer to his daughter. "You know, he is not very bright at times, Mavy."

Mavis smiled good-naturedly. "Johnny, it's not really that big a deal. We don't celebrate Christmas - instead, we celebrate Hanukah."

"Yeah, but _how_ did you become Jewish?" The human reiterated. "I thought that you didn't leave the hotel - well, not often - so how do you know about different religions and stuff?"

"Judaism has been around for a very long time, Johnny," The Count stated, somewhat surprised that Johnny of all people didn't know this information - after all, he _had_ travelled the world, so it seemed odd that he hadn't picked up certain things such as this. "We monsters aren't savages, you know; we _do_ take part in religion too. In our case, our family has been Jewish for generations - it's simply passed down."

"Does it bother you?" Mavis asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, of course not!" Johnny answered quickly. "Judaism is...it's cool, I guess. I mean, I'm not really a religious person, but religion is...cool."

_Smooth._

"So...hold on... You don't give or get Christmas presents?" The red-head questioned, somewhat disturbed by this fact. "Really? You don't do Christmas trees or mistletoe or tinsel-"

"Oh, the witches put those things up," Mavis interrupted, nodding. "It's for all of the guests in the hotel who _do_ celebrate it. Plus, it livens the corridors up quite a bit."

"But you don't-"

The vampire girl shook her head. "No. We don't get 'Christmas presents'; but we sometimes give nice things to my uncles and aunts, just to be in the spirit of the holiday." She sent him a wide smile, clearly not seeing an issue. "It's not too bad, you know; we light a candle as the Sun rises - the humans do the opposite - and there's eight candles-"

"I know how Hanukkah works," Johnny laughed, putting an arm around her; at the look Dracula gave him, he immediately withdrew his arm. "So...so you guys don't want Christmas presents or anything?"

"That won't be necessary, Johnny," Dracula answered.

Mavis, however, didn't seem to share this sentiment. "Well, I guess it _might_ be kind of nice to see how other people celebrate holidays," She admitted quietly, much to her father's surprise. "I mean, you don't have to get me a present or anything, but I'd still like to see how you celebrate this 'Christmas' holiday."

The human grinned in an excited way. "Awesome! So, what are we waiting for? Let's go put up some decs!"

* * *

"So, what's the tree for?"

Johnny opened his mouth to answer only to shut it again and tilt his head to the side thoughtfully. "Huh. I don't know. I always thought it was pretty though...oh, and it's for Santa Claus to leave gifts under!"

Mavis raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"Santa!" The red-head repeated, surprised that she didn't know about him. "You know...a great jolly fat dude in a red coat and white beard? He drives a sleigh with reindeer and delivers presents in one night?"

The look on his girlfriend's face showed that she thought he was absolutely nuts.

"He's not actually real," Johnny said quickly. "It's just fun to pretend; people do it all the time, mainly for kids. It's kinda bringing magic into the holiday, I guess...I'll stop talking about Santa Claus now."

Mavis gave a giggle, shaking her head at how amusing he was trying to explain things. "And what's the point of the star at the top? Is that just to make it look pretty or...what?"

"I think it's to do with Jesus," Johnny answered, only to receive another weird look. "Well, in Christianity - that's a different religion - we celebrate Christmas 'cause it's meant to be, like, Jesus' birthday. There's a story about his birth and stuff, and at the end there's these three wise men who bring gifts, and there's an angel in the sky watching over him...oh, yeah! To get to him, all the shepherds and stuff had to follow this star, so that's probably why we have the star."

"This is just about the weirdest holiday ever," Mavis muttered, going through the box of decorations they had dug out of the storage unit in the hotel. A lot of this was rather strange to her, but she supposed she could see the attraction in it...

She started pulling objects out of the box as her boyfriend concentrated on draping lights on the tree they had created in the lobby. She pulled something out of the cardboard box and stared at it while twirling it in her hands.

"What's this?"

Johnny looked and his face immediately broke into a grin. " _That_ , Mavis, is mistletoe. See, pass it here..." Mavis did so and followed after him as he ran down to the lobby to a doorway leading to another corridor somewhere. "Look, you stick this up here," He said, showing her and managing to get it to hang from the top of the door frame. "And then if two people walk under it, they have to kiss."

Mavis looked up at it before realizing that she and Johnny were both under it. She sent him a smile. "So, does this mean I get to kiss you?"

Johnny gave a sly smile. "Yeah, definitely. It's the rules."

They wrapped their arms around each other, allowing their kiss to deepen.

Now, this was one tradition that Mavis definitely liked.

* * *

Much to Dracula's confusion, over the next few nights he started to find his daughter and her boyfriend running around various parts of the hotel, both of their arms full of decorations and lights, as they helped the witches decorate the hotel for Christmas. The Count wasn't sure if he was bemused by his daughter's efforts to understand this holiday or if he should have been worried that she might start celebrating Christmas instead of Hanukkah.

 _No, don't be absurd,_ he told himself. _She's been raised celebrating Hanukkah, and that's not going to change just because Johnny celebrates something else._

The breaking point had been late one night when he'd been relaxing with Wayne, Frank, Griffin and Murray in the bar; they'd been having casual conversations, just catching up on what each of them had been up to since they'd last been together.

"So, what about you, Drac?" Frank asked after taking a rather large swig of his beer. "Been up to much?"

The vampire shrugged. "Oh, you know...running the hotel, sorting out guests...the boring stuff."

Griffin gave a snort from his right side. "Admit it, buddy: you're lonely, now that Mavis is gone all the time travelling."

"Uhh...it's rather quiet."

All of his friends gave loud chuckles at this and he smiled good-naturedly. "I saw Mavis and Johnny putting up decorations earlier," Wayne said suddenly, remembering it on the spot. "The pups were running around the place, tearing down tapestries, and I saw Mavis and Johnny hanging up tinsel."

"Hanging up decorations?" Murray asked, raising a sandy eyebrow. "Hold on, Drac: don't you guys celebrate a different thing?"

"We do," Dracula said, nodding his head and taking a sip of his drink - water, of course, because drinking on the job was not at all professional in his opinion. "She is just helping put the decorations up - Johnny is...uhh...one of those people who _loves_ Christmas."

Griffin made a noise of agreement. "Who doesn't? Well, besides you, I guess."

As the vampire sent a glare his way, Frank gave a chortle. "It's weird," He muttered, downing the rest of his drink before speaking again. "When they have kids, what do you think they'll celebrate?"

Dracula almost - _almost_ \- dropped his glass out of shock and his mouth fell open.

"Are you okay?" Wayne questioned, noticing the state his friend was in. "You've gone paler than usual."

Dracula turned to Frank, still in a frozen state of shock, and blinked. " _Kids_? What kids?"

"Oh, I was just saying," The flesh-golem covered hurriedly, not wanting to get on his friend's bad side. "I mean, it's probably _decades_ away but...you know. They're a couple and they've zinged, so they'll probably get married someday and settle down, right?"

"And why wouldn't they celebrate Hanukkah?" Dracula asked sharply, giving him a small glare.

Murray immediately gave to his friend's defence. "Drac, he was just wondering...they probably _will_..."

"They'll probably celebrate both," Griffin agreed, glasses shaking as he nodded his head. "They'll do your holiday, and then Johnny's one. See? No big deal!"

Dracula, honestly, didn't know what to think on that subject: the thought of his daughter being _married_ and having _children_ was foreign and slightly odd to him. It made him feel quite old and he quickly shook the thought out of his head.

As for the holiday they'd take part in - well, he was trying his best not to think about having grandchildren just yet, considering how young he was (far too young to be a Grandpa of all things).

* * *

Johnny was woken up that evening by the sound of his children whooping from their bedrooms, clearly having woken up and found their stockings.

"Mavy?" He murmured, rolling on his side and curling an arm around her; her stomach was extremely round and plump, thanks to the fact that she was now eight and a half months pregnant with their third baby. "You awake?"

"I've been awake for an hour," Mavis snorted, putting an arm around him as well. "This baby clearly didn't want me to sleep in tonight...they probably just want lots of food."

The bedroom door burst open, and suddenly there were two young children on the bed, bouncing up and down and jabbering excitedly with various presents in their arms.

"Look!" Jack exclaimed, holding up an object. "I got that book I've always wanted, see? And I got a notebook so that I could write down my thoughts about books too..."

"And, look!" Lucy announced, also holding up different objects. "I have a new necklace and new bracelets - _and_ they're _exactly_ the way I wanted them to be, like I told the witches back at the hotel!"

Johnny sat up, grinning at the amazed looks on their faces. "That's awesome! Can I see?" The two children passed him the objects and watched as he examined them, smiling and nodding with every object he looked at. "Oh, you guys were right! These are great!"

"It's like magic!" Lucy stated happily, and Jack nodded furiously. "Do you think we've got presents downstairs too? Did Santa _really_ leave them?"

"Of course he did," Johnny scoffed, trying to appear as though such a thing as Santa not leaving the presents was ridiculous. "Who else would have left them?"

Jack sent his sister a small glare. "She's only asking, 'cause her friend told her that Santa doesn't exist...but he does, right, Mom? Dad?"

Both Mavis and Johnny nodded in agreement and sent the two to put their stocking presents away so that they could all go downstairs to see what was under the tree.

"You know," Mavis said, pulling on an oversized jumper over her pyjamas to keep herself warm; it barely fit over her baby bump now. "I'm actually kinda worried about that friend Lu has - saying stuff about Santa not existing."

Johnny sent her a look, clearly agreeing. "Well...not everyone does Christmas, remember? And, besides, apparently her friend has...you know...issues with her family."

The couple put that thought out of their minds as they headed downstairs with their children and into the sitting room where the tree was.

Lucy's mouth fell open in shock and Jack blinked, reaching up to rub his eyes to check that he wasn't dreaming.

"WOAH!" The two of them chorused, rooted to the spot as they took in the amount of presents under the tree.

"Well, what you guys waiting for?" Johnny chuckled. "Go ahead, start opening!"

Lucy and Jack ran at the pile, pulling random presents and checking the tags to see who they were for and who they were from. Meanwhile, Johnny pulled a chair over to Mavis and sat her down on it. She gave him a small smile of thanks, rubbing her aching belly with her hands and watching their children.

"Being pregnant on Christmas must suck," The red-head guessed and she gave a small laugh. "I guess I should say sorry, but...I'm not really."

"Well, it's only another few weeks," Mavis sighed, moving one of her hands to rub at her back. "As much as I love feeling them kicking, they're just _so_ heavy to carry around all the time..."

"Oh my God!" Lucy cried, holding up a dress and stumbling towards Mavis to give her a hug. "Mom, this is the one that I wanted; remember, I told you that I wanted a black one so that I looked like you? And that it had to have a belt to go with it, so I'd look cool? Now I will!"

Jack gave a gasp in pleasant surprise. "He didn't...Dad, you told Santa to get me the _entire_ Harry Potter series?"

"I knew you wanted to read them," Johnny stated, shrugging and unable to keep the grin off of his face. "And, hey, what would have been the point in just getting the first one?"

Jack grinned as well and flew across the room to thank his father.

One would wonder how Johnny and Mavis had managed to get presents over the years - it wasn't too difficult, to be honest. Clothes and jewellery could often be made skilfully by the witches working at the hotel, and they certainly had no qualms in making these objects. Otherwise, however, Johnny had managed to keep in contact with a few of his remaining human relatives; this was lucky, since they could send gifts over from America if need be.

One of Johnny's favourite parts about Christmas had - of course - been opening presents with the family. When he was younger, it was purely because of the excitement of getting presents that he had really wanted...now it was getting to see his own children so _excited_ and _happy_ when opening their presents on Christmas (once he would have said 'Christmas Morning', but he supposed it was _really '_ Christmas _Night'_ in their case).

As Johnny looked over his family, he couldn't help but feel kind of content in a warm and woozy way; he was getting to watch his kids enjoy their Christmas every year, getting to watch his family come together for the holiday and enjoy themselves... That year, he guessed, was special. Okay, so because Mavis was heavily pregnant she was mainly forced down to sit down and watch from the side-lines, but there was something about seeing that they were going to have another baby soon that made him enjoy that Christmas even more.

_To think: next year, we'll have three kids to buy stuff for._

This feeling and these thoughts were worth much more than all the Christmas presents in the entire world.


End file.
